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Ill rushed a stalwart English Officer with drawn sword, threatening 
to hew them to pieces, unless they delivered up the man 

who had stolen his cap. p. HO. 



SCENES IN CHUSAN, 



OR 



MISSIONARY LABOURS BY THE WAY, 



BY THE AUTHOR OF " LEARN TO SAY NO." 



PHILADELPHIA: A 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
NO. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 

t9rj 






r 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

JESPER HARDING & SON, 

NO. 57 SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



The Library 
of Congress 

WASHINGTON 



"Ti 



'Tl 





PAGH 


Labours by the "Way, 


. 5 


Striking Appearance of Terrace Cultivation, 8 


The Bund, 


. 12 


Tinghae, 


13 


Our House, 


. 14 


Chusan under English Magistrates, 


16 


Eeading Meetings in the Army, 


. 19 


Preaching in the Chapel, . . • 


20 


Preaching in the Hospital, 


. 23 


The Prayer Meeting, 


29 


The Soldier's Oratory, . 


. 33 


Monthly Concert, • 


37 


Captain S -, • 


. 41 


Lieutenant E — ■ — , • • • 


51 


The Contrast, 


. 58 


The Dying Sailor, , 


69 


The Solitary Burial, . • • 


• 77 


The Young Artilleryman, . 


81 


Regeneration more than Reformation, 


. 93 




(3) 



CONTENTS. 



Samshu, and what it did, 

The Suicide, ..... 

The Midnight Affright, 

Wedded to Forms, 

The Sergeant's Family, 

Things not in Keeping at a Funeral, 

Of the Sergeant himself, 

What a Loss is it to lose a Wife, 

Woman's Mission, 

Her Husband is known in the Gates, 

Mrs. C , .... 

The unfaithful Wife, 

Sergeant E , and Corporal C , 

The two Friends, .... 

The last Time, .... 

A thankful Hearer, .... 

Collateral Benefits of Foreign Missions, 

What Pay do you receive ? 

Worldly Men cannot understand our Motives, 

The Fashion of this World passeth away, 

The Author's Apology, . . . 



PAGE 

100 
100 
110 
112 
137 
140 
143 
149 
151 
156 
167 
170 
179 
184 
191 
209 
216 
222 
226 
236 
241 



SSUBS IM <D2£E^ 



LABOURS BY THE WAY. 

By this I mean certain labours per- 
formed by a missionary of the Board 
of Missions of the Presbyterian Church 
while residing at Chusan, which labours 
were outside of those which occupied 
his principal time and attention, as one 
sent out especially to preach the gos- 
pel to the inhabitants of China. 

The period during which the inci- 
dents narrated in these sketches oc- 
curred, was between April 1st, 1845, 
and August 7th, 1846. The materials 
from which this little work is now com- 
posed, have long been lying amongst a 

1* (5) 



6 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

pile of note-books and journals, ne- 
glected, and perhaps expecting soon to 
be forgotten, and to go the way that 
other rubbish goes. 

The reperusal of these old records 
has called up a thousand reminis- 
cences, which were not traced with 
pen and ink on perishable paper, yet 
were inscribed on the tablets which 
are laid up somewhere in the great 
archive chambers of the memory. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ISLAND. 

Before proceeding further, I would 
like very much, if it were possible, to 
give you some account of Chusan — of 
the island itself, with its valleys and 
hills ; its villages, and mountain-streams, 
and canals. But I have no idea at all 
of being able to give you the picture 
of the scenery as it is even now in my 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE ISLAND. 7 

memory. Had I something of the 
painter's or the poet's art, I might at- 
tempt it; but now in mere dull prose I 
will simply say, that Chusan is an 
island about half way up the coast from 
Canton to where that " great wall/' 
which bounds the eighteen provinces of 
China on the north, comes down to the 
sea. It is about thirty miles east of 
the mouth of the river on which Ningpo 
is situated. It is the largest of a very 
numerous group of islands, and is quite 
important to the Chinese government 
as a naval station. The island is 
about twenty miles long, and averaging 
ten or eleven miles in width. 

It is beautiful, very beautiful, and 
always so, whether in summer or in 
winter ; and wherever one might go, 
and from whatever point he might view 
it, there were new attractions. Strangers 



8 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

were unbounded in their praise of it ; 
yet those who had been there the 
longest, and seen it most, praised it 
more than the strangers. 

The natural advantages of the scenery- 
seemed to be studied by the Chinese 
inhabitants, who, with their peculiarly 
good taste in this respect, added arti- 
ficial adornments. 

STRIKING APPEARANCE OF TERRACE CUL- 
TIVATION. 

I well remember the impression 
made by the first view of the island as 
we approached it from the ocean. It 
rose up before us out of the sea ; the 
hill was high, and began its ascent 
from the water's edge; and it was 
very steep, but entirely green to its 
summit. Over it, and along its slope, 
were winding foot-paths in every di- 



TERRACE CULTIVATION. 9 

rection, and in these were people mov- 
ing hither and thither, and up and down ; 
here a man with broad-brimmed hat, 
leading a cow by a string in the nose ; 
there a child tending a goat while it 
picked the grass by the way-side, 
followed by her kids. In places 
where the hill was otherwise too steep 
for cultivation, it was terraced ; that 
is, a wall of stone was laid, and the 
soil thrown in behind it and levelled 
down, then back of this another wall, 
and so on. Seen from a distance, one 
might fancy that they were stairs for 
giants. 

The island of Chusan is made up of 
hills and valleys, and some of the hills 
would in some countries be dignified 
as mountains. Through the valleys, 
across the broad plains, along the hill- 
sides, up the hills, and down again, 



10 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

and through the mountain-passes, were 
roads, and foot-paths, seldom keeping 
on a straight line for any distance, but 
curving gracefully. 

There was every variety in the col- 
ouring of the landscape; for the ele- 
vated grounds exhibited their little 
patches of grain and vegetables, and 
the valleys their fields of different 
kinds of grain. Here and there were 
the tombs of wealthy families set off 
with various figures cut out of stone, 
and made attractive by ornamental 
trees; while the hills near the city 
were entirely covered with humbler 
graves. Yonder, in a shaded glen, was 
a temple, but nearly or quite concealed 
from distant view by majestic trees, 
and by bamboo groves on the adjacent 
hills ; and ever and anon, as you ex- 
tend your walk, an altar is encountered 



TERRACE CULTIVATION. 11 

in a romantic turn of the road — rude 
or more finished — or a shrine espied 
far up a retreating cove, which you 
have passed twenty times perhaps, and 
never espied it until now. Here you 
approach a gentleman's establishment; 
here a landlord's premises with a high 
wall around it, like all houses of any 
importance in China, whether in town 
or country, as a defence from robbers. 
There you see a public garden with its 
grotto and fish-pond, its labyrinth of 
artificial rocks, its dwarf trees, with 
numerous little pavilions, alcoves, and 
chambers furnished with couches, on 
which visitors may lounge, and the 
opium-smoker inhale that deadly nar- 
cotic. 

The numerous thatched cottages of 
the Chinese peasants, surrounded with 
their walls of earth or with palings. 



12 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

were pretty, if viewed from a sufficient 
distance. 

THE BUND. 

The Levee, or, "Bund," as those 
called it who came from India, was an 
embankment, somewhat crescent in 
form, extending, perhaps, two miles 
from the hills which flanked the valley 
on either side ; it had served the Chi- 
nese the double purpose of an embank- 
ment to keep back the salt waters of 
the sea from their fields, and, as they 
had supposed, to keep off a foreign 
enemy ; for from one end of it to the 
other, they had thrown up hillocks of 
sand, behind which the men, who fired 
big guns at the enemy's ships, might 
retire when the enemy's balls should 
come back to them. When the Eng- 
lish established themselves on the 



TINGHAE. 13 

island, they levelled many of those hil- 
locks, and made a fine promenade, 
where might be enjoyed the air fresh 
from the sea, with a view of the oppo- 
site islands, and the shipping in the 
harbour. 

About midway of this levee was 
the hill on which had been a Chinese 
fort, but at the time of which I am 
speaking, it was occupied by the great 
guns of the English. On one side of 
this hill were barracks for the troops, 
on the other side were the trading 
houses of the foreigners and Chinese, 
while just on the eastern slope of the 
hill, and at its foot, was the burying- 
ground for foreigners. 

TINGHAE. 

The city of Tinghae with its wall 
and moat, and its four gates corres- 
2 



14 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ponding to the'four cardinal points of 
the compass, stood in the valley, a 
mile or more from the harbour, between 
which and the city was a winding road, 
paved with broad flat stones, and about 
midway was a covered bazaar, always 
filled with a chaffering and chattering 
multitude, through which the passenger 
was obliged to elbow his way. 

OUR HOUSE. 

The house in which we lived for a 
while, in the city, was a little low cot- 
tage, and the enclosure of the yard 
was as high as the eaves of the house, 
so that we had nothing to look out 
upon but a blank wall of blue brick. 
In the yard were a few trees, and 
some artificial rock work. On one 
side was a street wide enough for one 
person to meet another quite comfort- 



OUR HOUSE. 15 

ably; on the other a canal with a 
broad paved walk between it and our 
wall, and a few willow trees overhang- 
ing the water. This house had once 
been the residence, for a few months, 
of an English missionary, while the 
war between the English and Chinese 
was in progress, at which time the 
Chinese were paying large bounty on 
English heads; and one of the tradi- 
tions of those times was, that one night 
the missionary, hearing a rustling in 
the narrow yard at the rear of his 
house, arose from his bed, seiz.ed his 
loaded gun, crept around to the corner 
of the house, and fired away in the 
direction of the noise; and immedi- 
ately there was a scrambling of some- 
thing over the wall, and a pattering of 
bare feet up the street, and the mis- 
sionary sought his bed again. In the 



16 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

morning, curiosity prompted him to 
take a better look by daylight, and 
where the noise was heard, there he 
found a bag and a large knife. He 
was glad to feel his head still on his 
shoulders. 

CHUSAN UNDER MAGISTRATES APPOINTED 
BY THE ENGLISH COMMANDANT. 

At the time of which I am speak- 
ing, Chusan was held by the English. 
The people on the hills and in the dis- 
tant valleys, lived pretty much without 
regard, to magistrates, and paid no tax- 
es; disputes were, to a great extent, 
settled by arbitration amongst them- 
selves ; but cases of piracy and rob- 
bery, and controversies between Chi- 
nese and foreigners were brought 
before the English magistrate. The 
island was held by England as a depot 



CHUSAN UNDER ENGLISH MAGISTRATES. 17 

for troops and naval stores ; and as a 
security for the payment of the twen- 
ty-one millions of dollars, which, in the 
treaty at Nankin, the Chinese pro- 
mised their enemy, on condition that 
the war should not be prosecuted 
further. Six millions of that sum 
were for the opium which Commission- 
er Lin had destroyed at Canton; 
three millions to remunerate English 
merchants for losses sustained by 
them in consequence of the war, and 
twelve to the English government, to 
cover the expenses of the war. And 
that was one of the subjects which 
the Chinese common people never 
seemed to get a really clear conception 
of — why a nation should be made to 
pay for being conquered ! 

The troops stationed at Chusan con- 
sisted generally of one regiment of in- 
2* 



18 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

fan try from England, and one of native 
infantry from India. These were na- 
tives of Hindostan officered by Eng- 
lishmen — white officers, and jet black 
soldiers; besides these, there was a 
company of artillery, and a detachment 
of sappers and miners. 

There were occasional changes how- 
ever; one regiment or company with- 
drawn, and another put in its place, 
and recruits were arriving out from 
home to fill the gaps in the ranks made 
by war or disease. 

There was no chaplain at the sta- 
tion, but, as the regulations in the ser- 
vice required, the Protestant troops 
were assembled once each Sabbath- 
day, in a building erected for a chapel, 
and the "collects" of the church of 
England were read by some one of the 
officers; and those of the soldiers who 



READING MEETINGS. 19 

were Roman Catholics were marched 
away to a little chapel of the French 
priest. 

READING MEETINGS IN THE ARMY. 

There were a few pious officers and 
men that were not sufficiently fed with 
the formal reading of the prayers and 
lessons ; and they had been in the ha- 
bit of meeting every Sabbath at the 
quarters of one of the pious officers, 
where they joined in prayer and sing- 
ing, and in listening to the word of 
God, and to a sermon which was read 
from a printed volume. They found 
their " reading meetings " pleasant and 
profitable ; and this, though many who 
attended them were members of a 
church in which there are more forms, 
and where more stress is usually laid 
upon having the services of a clergy- 



20 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

man in any religious meeting, than is 
the case amongst some other denomi- 
nations of christians. 

Upon our arrival at the island, I 
was req uested to take this service, and 
on the following Sabbath we met, as 
had been their custom, at the house 

of a Captain S , in the city. The 

audience, as usual, consisted of a few 
officers from different companies, a few 
privates, and two or three missionaries 
who were on their way to other sta- 
tions. 

PREACHING IN THE CHAPEL. 

After this we obtained the privilege 
of holding this service in the chapel, 
which was near the cantonment. It 
was very rough in its appearance, as 
were most of the houses erected by 
the English, as it was only for tempo- 
rary use. 



PREACHING IN THE CHAPEL. 21 

The seats were narrow planks with- 
out backs ; but it was capacious enough 
to hold all the Protestant troops, then 
on the island, when closely packed. 

A large portion of those who attend- 
ed at the chapel were such as would 
not be likely to seek out a little band 
of worshippers in an upper room in the 
city. Amongst those present, might 
be seen a few officers with their fami- 
lies, a few of the merchants and their 
clerks, occasionally a stranger; and 
sometimes officers and people from the 
ships, and as many of the private sol- 
diers as chose to attend, unless they 
were at the time on duty. 

I like to think of those meetings. 
They were composed of people from 
different parts of the world, far sepa- 
rated from their homes. Many of 
them had been bred religiously, but 



22 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

some had almost forgotten early in- 
structions, and fallen into loose and 
immoral habits. Many, we hope, in 
that chapel had the lessons of child- 
hood brought again to mind, and the 
religious impressions of earlier days 
revived; and in some cases, as we 
have reason to believe, the effect was 
lasting. 

In our services, we had exemplified 
what is meant by " christian union;" 
for while the worshippers were of sev- 
eral different denominations, the ques- 
tion was seldom asked, Of what church 
are you ? but one took his brother by 
the hand, and all sung together the 
songs of Zion; together we offered 
supplications for common blessings, and 
together listened to the word of our 
common Father. 

Those Sabbaths, especially during 



PREACHING IN THE HOSPITAL. 23 

the hours of public worship, were sea- 
sons of calm, spiritual delight. There 
might be confusion in the barracks not 
far off, and most of us in going to the 
chapel had made our way through the 
crowds of Chinese, who have no day 
of rest, and who were busy, as ever 
are that very busy people, at their 
wonted occupations. Yet we, in Grod's 
good providence, were permitted to en- 
joy a day of holy rest, and to engage 
in service, that might remind us of, and 
which might help to fit us for, the as- 
sembly that shall never break up, and 
the Sabbath that shall never end. 

PREACHING IN THE HOSPITAL. 

Near the cantonments, and close by 
the sea-shore, was the military hospital 
— a large brick building of two sto- 
ries, having three large rooms for the 



24 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

sick on each floor, which extended 
nearly the entire length of the build- 
ing. 

In this, were generally from eighty 
to a hundred patients, and sometimes 
more. 

A few days after landing on the 
island, I visited the hospital and dis- 
tributed tracts to such of the patients 
as would receive them. Shortly after- 
wards, while on a visit to a poor man 
who was expecting soon to die, and 
who had desired to see me, the officer 
in charge intimating that there were 
some amongst the invalids, that would 
be glad of a religious service in the 
hospital on the Sabbath, permission 
was obtained from the officer in com- 
mand of the station, and from that 
time till the island was restored to the 
Chinese government, the gospel was 



PREACHING IN THE HOSPITAL. 25 

preached in that place every Sabbath- 
day to the sick and the maimed. 

By standing in the middle of the 
building, and by opening the doors be- 
tween the wards, all the occupants of 
that floor were within the sound of the 
preacher's voice ; and as many as were 
able, or disposed, would come from the 
lower to the upper, or from the upper 
to the lower story, according as the 
services were held above or below. 
And there were some, on the other 
hand, who, if they were able, would 
leave the room during the time of the 
service; for so wicked is man while in 
his natural state, and so much at en- 
mity with God, that there are everywhere 
to be found those who will endeavour 
to run away, so as not to hear what 
God would speak to them by the mouth 
of his servants. 
3 



26 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Those services were conducted un- 
der solemn circumstances. The people 
all now in a strange land, far away 
from home and kindred : some had 
long led a wandering life, and had be- 
come hardened by many years of mili- 
tary service in different parts of the 
world, and by exposure to all the vices 
of the camp ; while others were young 
and were now eating the bitter fruits 
of some youthful folly, perhaps for 
which they ran away from home, en- 
listed, and were sent far off, and not 
unlikely would be buried where no 
friendly hand might adorn or guard 
their grave, and where no tear of kin- 
dred would fall upon it. 

In that congregation of the sick, 
some, doubtless, were at the time re- 
volving serious thoughts. God had 
laid his hand upon them, had in a mea- 



PREACHING IN THE HOSPITAL. 27 

sure arrested them in their career of 
sin, and was calling to them in the 
voice of his providence to stop, and 
think upon their ways ; and while sit- 
ting up, or lying on their cots, there 
was reason to hope there might be a 
word in season made to sink deep into 
some heart. 

Seldom was the word of God preached 
there, but his providence was preaching 
also. Either there would be a re- 
cently vacated couch, from which a 
comrade had been borne to the deposi- 
tory of the dead, or before us was one 
whose prospects of recovery were daily 
becoming less; or from another quarter 
of the building would come to our ears 
the groan, or the heavy breathing of 
one just on the confines of eternity, 
clinging indeed to this world, but soon 
to be torn from everything he loved 
on earth. 



28 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

In the midst of such scenes, how 
could one commissioned to beseech men 
in Christ's stead to be reconciled to 
God, but feel the value of the passing 
hour, the importance of dealing faith- 
fully with souls, and an earnest desire 
that the Holy Spirit might apply the 
truth ? 

When that public service was con- 
cluded, tracts were sometimes distri- 
buted amongst the patients, and as time 
and occasion favoured, we had private 
conversation with one and another. 

Occasionally during the week I 
dropped in, and passed around amongst 
the sick, if perchance any opportunity 
might be afforded of speaking a word 
in season, of administering any com- 
fort to some disciple of Christ, or of 
directing some inquiring one to the 
Lamb of God, that taketh away the 



THE PRAYER MEETING. 29 

sins of the world. At other times 
messengers were sent to our house in 
the city with a request from some one 
who was nigh unto death, and wished 
to see me ere he died. 

THE PRAYER MEETING. 

There was another service which we 
very highly prized. It was the Wed- 
nesday evening prayer meeting, at our 
own house in the city, attended by such 
of the pious or inquiring soldiers as 
could get leave for the occasion. Some- 
times there was a well-filled room, 
sometimes only that little number which 
might remind us of the special promise 
to the two or three. Many of the com- 
mon soldiers were quite illiterate men, 
but we loved to follow them in prayer, 
for they prayed in simplicity, and great 
apparent sincerity. They evidently 
3* 



30 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

enjoyed these meetings ; they felt that 
it was good to be there. We trust 
that the pious soldier, by those means 
of grace, gathered courage and strength 
to be a more valiant soldier for Christ. 

Prayers were there offered for souls 
that were labouring and heavy-laden, 
who sometimes bowed with us. By 
those meetings, the missionary and his 
wife were cheered and encouraged in 
their solitary home — solitary, though 
they were in the midst of a crowded 
city. Here they often found occasion 
to thank God, and take courage. 

The power of religion as manifested 
in the lives of those few pious soldiers, 
was not without its benefit to the mis- 
sionaries, and to the idolaters, amongst 
whom they were labouring. 

Satan sometimes injects troublesome 
thoughts into the hearts of God's peo- 



THE PRAYER MEETING. 31 

pie, such as these — whether, after all, 
there is anything in religion — whether 
there is any use in trying any more to 
bring men to believe in Jesus — whether 
it is of any use to instruct the heathen 
in things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God. 

Let a person troubled with such 
thoughts step into a prayer meeting, 
and witness what enjoyments the 
saints have in their communion one 
with another, and with God; let him 
witness how fervent are their prayers, 
which are offered as though they be- 
lieved that they occupied a place very 
near the mercy-seat; let him notice how 
feelings of devotion are enkindled, as 
with one voice they offer songs of 
praise ; let him mark how punctually 
and regularly they attend — not hin- 
dered by rain, or the darkness, nor 



32 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

turned aside by entertainments which 
attract the worldly; let him witness 
this, and he will say that there is some- 
thing in religion, that Jesus does mani- 
fest himself to his disciples, as he does 
not to the world; that he does give 
them meat to eat, which the world 
knows not of; and the heathen, when 
they notice that from month to month 
they forsake not the assembling of them- 
selves together, and see with what 
sincerity they worship an unseen God, 
and what enjoyment they seem to find 
in the work of prayer and praise, and 
what communications of joy and peace 
they seem to receive; and when, too, 
they observe their outward conduct, 
so different from that of many others 
who come not with them to the place 
of prayer, are constrained to own 
that there must be some power in the 




They would fiud a quiet place somewhere by the sea-side, among 

, the rocks. p. 33 



THE SOLDIER'S ORATORY. 33 

christian religion which is not found in 
their own. 

THE SOLDIER'S ORATORY. 

As there would nearly every week 
be some who could not be present with 
us at the meeting for prayer, and as 
there were others who felt the need, 
or desired the pleasures of social 
prayer more frequently than once a 
week, they were accustomed to get to- 
gether in some vacant room, or in the 
quarters of a pious family in the bar- 
racks. At other times, they would 
seek a secluded place in the fields, or 
amongst the high mounds of the Chi- 
nese tombs, and the trees which sur- 
rounded them, or they would find a 
quiet place somewhere by the sea-side 
amongst the rocks ; and here it was 
they had their Bethels and their Pe- 



34 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

niels. The hearts of God's people do 
somehow always seem to flow together. 
Whether it be the few disciples in the 
upper room at Jerusalem, or the women 
at Philippi, who resorted to the river- 
side, to the place where prayer was 
wont to be made, or these devout 
soldiers, pouring out their hearts in 
supplication and praise wherever they 
could find a favourable opportunity; 
our hearts are with them, the flame of 
devotion is enkindled in our hearts, 
they are our brethren, and we embrace 
them in the arms of christian love and 
fellowship, and are cheered with the 
thought that in heaven this love and 
communion shall be perfect and per- 
petual. 

As unfriendly to growth in grace as 
life in the barracks might seem to be, 
yet those pious soldiers were mani- 



THE SOLDIER'S ORATORY. 35 

festly, for the most part, advancing in 
holiness. In everything pertaining to 
their religion, they were decided ; they 
appeared to be marching shoulder to 
shoulder, presenting a bold front to all 
their spiritual enemies ; and, doubtless, 
they had found this the only way for 
them to do, unless they would be car- 
ried away by the many influences which 
were adverse to holiness. 

To perform sentry's duty was not 
always to them a disagreeable service, 
for it afforded them so much time for 
private meditation. 

They were also ever on the look out 
for opportunities of doing good. If 
they found a fellow-soldier that seemed 
at all inclined to seriousness, or one 
that was alarmed, or awakened in any 
way, they stood ready to invite him 
to the religious meetings. If a com- 



36 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

i rade had been taken ill, and was car- 
ried to the hospital, the minister was 
informed of it. The tracts with which 
they were supplied, they distributed 
as they found fitting occasion ; and the 
books which had been profitable to 
themselves, they recommended to 
others. And here was the origin of a 
little circulating library with which 
they provided themselves through our 
agency, made up of books of the Pres- 
b3^terian Board of Publication, and of 
the Tract Society, with volumes from 
the libraries of the missionaries. 

These were made to do good service; 
they passed around from one to an- 
other; and on the removal of the gar- 
rison, were taken on with them to In- 
dia. How much good that chest of 
books has done we do not know, nor 
do we expect to know in this world ; 



MONTHLY CONCERT. 37 

it is enough for us to cast our bread 
upon the waters, in the belief that it 
shall be seen again after many days. 
Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress " and 
" Holy War/' were well worn — they 
were in constant circulation amongst 
those who liked them for nothing but 
their quaintness, and their story. 

MONTHLY CONCERT. 

The monthly concert was a meeting 
which the soldiers seemed well-pleased 
to attend ; and their contributions were 
applied towards the support of the 
little school of Chinese boys in our 
house. It was gratifying to notice the 
interest they took in our work, and in 
missionary operations generally. They 
desired that others should taste and 
see that the Lord is gracious. The 
joys they felt, and the hopes they en- 
4 



38 SCENES. IN CHUSAN. 

tertained, they would have all to come in 
possession of. Benevolence is one of 
the evidences of conversion. Desire 
for the salvation of souls, is one of the 
marks of the christian ; and meetings 
for prayer for the success of christian 
missions, for the conversion of the 
world, are much enjoyed by every 
child of Grod that is at all enlightened 
and awake to the interests of religion, 
and the welfare of his own soul. 

What we have been speaking of 
were but incidental, or collateral la- 
bours ; our principal work as mission- 
aries was with the Chinese, studying 
their language, visiting amongst them 
from house to house, distributing tracts 
in their language, and attending to all 
such labours as could be engaged in by 
a person in the first months of his 
missionary life. This was our princi- 



MONTHLY CONCERT. 39 

pal work. But when such a door was 
opened before us for usefulness amongst 
people speaking our own language, how 
could we turn from it ? There is rea- 
son to hope that some of the seed 
which was sown fell into good ground. 
A few of the followers of Christ were 
encouraged. Instruction was imparted 
to some who were desirous to know 
what they must do to be saved. 
Others were visited in their affliction ; 
and it is believed that occasionally, a 
few drops of consolation, like a cup 
of cold water, may have been given to 
the friends of Him who will say, " In- 
asmuch as ye have done it unto one 
of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." Some, on 
their dying beds, were told of the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins 
of the world ; and it may be, that in 



40 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

an instance here or there, salvation 
was accepted even at the point of 
death. Such may possibly have been 
the case. We have the record in 
scripture of the conversion of one in 
similar circumstances; the thief who 
prayed, " Lord, remember me when 
thou comest into thy kingdom." But 
we have no other instance of a death- 
bed repentance in the Scriptures, and 
this may teach not to cease labouring 
and praying for the conversion of any 
so long as they have life ; but it also 
teaches the danger of deferring repent- 
ance till a dying hour, and the great 
probability that those who have re- 
jected the offers of mercy all their 
days, till the very pangs of death be- 
gin to be felt, will die as they have 
lived. 



CAPTAIN S . 41 



CAPTAIN S- 



Mention has already been made of 

Captain S . A noble man he was 

— a christian gentleman — a hearty, 
earnest christian, and not ashamed of 
Christ, and not ashamed to own as his 
brother any one that belonged to the 
household of faith. He was a member 
of the church of England. He was 
a Dublin man, and possessed some of 
the best characteristics of his nation. 
His family was with him — a wife and 
two sweet children. He was a captain 
in the regiment of native infantry from 
India, where he had long been in the 
service of the East India Company. 

His greatest pleasure seemed to be 
found in doing good. Speaking, with 
ease and correctness, the language used 
principally by the natives near Ma- 



42 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

dras, from which region most of the 
people of his regiment came, they re- 
posed confidence in him, and looked to 
him as their friend, and listened re- 
spectfully, when on the Sabbath he as- 
sembled them for religious instruction : 
He visited the sick amongst them, could 
talk with them about their homes, and 
encourage them with the prospect of 
soon returning to their friends and na- 
tive land. 

How much good may a christian 
man always be doing ! He may be 
scattering benefits along his path, 
cheering and encouraging his fellow- 
men, even by smiles and kind words, 
becoming none the poorer, but ra- 
ther growing richer by the benefits 
which he thus imparts. 

One who has a heart full of kind- 
ness, will be likely to have his eyes 



CAPTAIN S . 43 

open, watching for opportunities of do- 
ing good ; he will not pass by on the 
other side, and allow to remain unre- 
lieved, or uncomforted, the poor, the 
stranger, or any sufferer. 

He is ever merciful ; and " blessed 
are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy." 

This was the kind-hearted captain 
that greeted us in the spirit of a bro- 
ther when we landed on the island ; 
and we anticipated much assistance 
from him in the religious meetings. 
But our expectations were to be disap- 
pointed. It was but a few times that 
he might worship with the people of 
God on earth ; but a few times, that 
we might unite with him in his hearty 
prayers in our social worship, for He, 
with whom he had long been walking 
was about to take him to himself. 



44 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Disease, which he, from his experi- 
ence and observation for so long a 
time in India, had feared was creeping 
on him, now took a violent hold upon 
his system, and laid him on his couch; 
and there I found him, when one morn- 
ing I called to consult with him re- 
specting a young man that had request- 
ed to be baptized and received to the 
communion. A remark of his at the 
time, indicated how he regarded the 
trials to which all those are exposed 
who, in the army, attempt to lead a 
godly life. He said that he could not 
conceive of very many reasons why a 
person in the camp should desire to 
make a public profession of religion, 
unless he felt the same to be a privi- 
lege, and was determined to take up 
his cross and follow Christ. There 
was something in his manner of say- 



CAPTAIN S . 45 

ing this, that would give the impres- 
sion that he expressed what he him- 
self had experienced; and, doubtless, 
he had learned some of the many ways 
in which the christian may be vexed 
and worried by those who hate his 
Master — he had learned that those 
who will live godly in Christ Jesus 
shall suffer persecution. 

After some pleasant religious con- 
versation I left him, hoping shortly to 
see him well again ; but that was not 
to be. For, only two days afterwards, 
word was brought that he was very 
low, and not expected to recover. I 
hastened to his house, but the surgeon, 
was unwilling that I should be ad- 
mitted. 

He was one of those who have not 
learned that a patient may be bene- 
fitted, rather than injured, by appropri- 



46 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ate religious conversation ; that a chris- 
tian, especially, by being cheered and 
encouraged with the consolations of 
religion, will even be more likely to be 
benefitted by the doctor's prescriptions ; 
and if he is to die, his dying bed will 
be made easier by hearing of Him who 
makes all our bed in our sickness, by 
hearing of the everlasting arms which 
are placed underneath God's people, 
and by being permitted to follow an- 
other in prayer, when his own thoughts 
are wandering, and his body and mind 
too weak for continuous thought. 

All the day was I prevented from 
seeing this friend ; all the day was his 
distressed wife alone with him, and 
he frequently repeating his request that 
I might be sent for. But about the 
middle of the afternoon, a message 
came from the surgeon, to come and 
gee the captain, but " to be short." 



CAPTAIN S— . 47 

I suppose, that though nominally a 
Protestant, his notion of a visit to the 
sick was not much different from that 
of the Roman Catholics, who wish the 
services of the priest only at the point 
of death, to administer " extreme unc- 
tion;" and, very likely, some physi- 
cians refuse to admit a clergyman to 
their patients, lest it might convey to 
them the impression that now the doc- 
tor has given them up, and, therefore, 
the clergyman is admitted, and next 
will come the undertaker. 

Meeting the surgeon in an outer- 
room, I said, "You request me to be 
short — about how long a time would it 
be proper for me to remain with your 
patient, do you think ?" " Oh — why — 
long enough to say whatever form you 
have/' said he. 

I found our friend very low, hardly 



48 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

able to speak; with difficulty he could 
articulate a few words. He spake of 
his hope as an anchor to his soul — of his 
peace as perfect : he could say, I know 
in whom I have believed : he could 
leave his wife and children in the 
hands of a covenant-keeping God. 
And, said he, " soon, very soon, these 
pains will cease — this distressing thirst 
will not be felt long — soon, oh, soon I 
shall be rich. I trust that soon I shall 
be with Jesus." 

We read and repeated some passages 
of scripture; then bowed in prayer; 
and after sitting a few moments in si- 
lence, I bade him farewell. He was 
just on the verge of heaven, and 
waited here but a short time after I 
left him. 

I tarried a few moments as I with- 
drew 5 to speak with the surgeon. He 



CAPTAIN S . 49 

seemed greatly moved — in some dis- 
tress ; for, said he, " this is the first 
officer I have lost by disease since we 
left India ." What a creature ! thought 
I. I had no commission to " speak 
comfortably" to people in that kind of 
sorrow, and so left him ; but in my 
own mind contrasting the characters 
of these two persons, and their pro- 
spects, and asking what had made 
them to differ. They were both from 
a christian land — had received, in many 
respects, the same education — had 
passed through much the same scenes ! 
but what had proved to one a savour 
of life unto life, might to the other, as 
was to be feared, prove a savour of death 
unto death. 

That, as you may suppose, was a 
sad night in our own little dwelling — 
we two alone — strangers, and amongst 



50 SCENES IN CHUSxlN. 

people of another tongue, and the first 
friend that we had found, so soon taken 
from us. Just before night we walked 
past the house which death had visited, 
and where were the fatherless children, 
and the stricken wife. We walked 
outside the city into a beautiful valley, 
but everything seemed hung with 
mourning. 

On the following day was the fu- 
neral. The widow and children who 
could not endure the loneliness — the 
almost speaking loneliness and gloom 
of their house now left unto them des- 
olate, came to tarry awhile with us. 
Afterwards we exchanged with her, 
she remaining in our house, and we re- 
moving to hers. 

The colonel of this regiment ap- 
peared to be a pious man. He regu- 
larly attended our Sabbath services, 



LIEUTENANT E . 51 

but was more reserved in his manners 
than the captain. We were beginning 
to become acquainted with him, when 
his regiment was relieved, and sent 
to India, and another sepoy regiment 
sent to take the place of that which 
had been removed. 

LIEUTENANT E . 



This was a young Irishman ; lively, 
pleasant, sociable, and a decided chris- 
tian ; and not a man that was disposed 
to deny his Master, or to follow him at 
a distance, if we may judge from the 
energy and perseverance with which 
he laboured for the cause of God in 
such methods as were open to him. 
His regiment was called " The Royal 
Irish," and it used to seem that he 
meant to be loyal in every respect; 
while he served his queen, he would 



52 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

also be a good subject, and a valiant 
soldier of the King of Zion. 

His scripture-reading, and Sabbath- 
keeping, and frequenting of meetings, 
and absenting himself from the games 
and Sabbath-day amusements of the 
other officers, brought upon him many 
petty persecutions. Even the com- 
mander of the forces, who, in the 
main, was kind and cordial, and where 
he took a liking, a hearty friend, did 
not encourage the religious ones as he 
might have done. Though sometimes, 
on a Monday morning, when many of 
the men appeared in a bad plight, or 
did not appear at all, on account of a 
too free use of liquor obtained while 
on liberty during the Sabbath, with 
some hard epithets, and some bad 
temper, he would single out the few 
religious ones, and pointing to them 



LIEUTENANT E . 53 

would say, with an oath, "Look ye, 
men! look to these, my Methodist peo- 
ple. I wish you were all Methodists, 
if it were only to keep you from get- 
ting drunk, and playing the fool on 
Sundays." Rumour had it that he 
gathered his subaltern officers on Sab- 
bath morning, to examine them in the 
drill book, and called it his Catechism 
class. One day, as was said, he en- 
tered the quarters of lieutenant E , 

and seeing the Bible and drill-book on 
the table, but the Bible above, he 
stepped up and reversed them, putting 
the Bible below, and the drill-book at 
the top, saying, " That's the order, my 
boy. That's the order." 

But our lieutenant held on his way, 

attending all religious duties, public 

and private ; encouraging the pious 

soldiers by his own example, and with 

5* 



54 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

words of exhortation, or of inquiry as 
to whether their souls were in health ! 
He took charge of a selection of reli- 
gious books which he lent to one and 
another, and recommended to such as 
he thought needed, or might be bene- 
fitted by such instruction, or such warn- 
ings as the book contained. 

How much good he was doing in his 
quiet way cannot be estimated. There 
was the influence of a godly life, acting 
as an encouragement to the good, and 
a restraint to the wicked — the effects 
of any warnings or counsels he may 
have spoken — and the blessings which 
may have been obtained in answer to 
his prayers. And so may every in- 
dividual be doing good continually. 
How much better to be exerting a 
good than a bad influence! and how 
much better to be up and doing with 



LIEUTENANT E . 55 

our might what our hands find to do, 
improving our talents to the utmost, 
than to bury our talents, or live the 
life of a drone ! 

A military life may seem to us not 
quite consistent with the peaceful mis- 
sion of Christ, and the precepts of his 
gospel; yet we see that God calls his 
elect from nearly all grades of society, 
and from people of various occupa- 
tions : and this, partly, no doubt, for 
the purpose of showing us that in 
whatever circumstances we may find 
ourselves placed, in the providence of 
God, there we may serve God, and 
that many temptations and hindrances 
are no excuse for not living a life of 
holiness; for, by the examples which 
we have, God has shown to us that he 
is willing to give strength equal to our 
day. We noticed that, as a general 



56 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

thing, the disciples of Christ in the 
army were more decided and active in 
religious duties, and seemed to have a 
greater hungering and thirsting after 
righteousness, than the same propor- 
tion of professing christians not so 
much exposed to temptation. Buffet- 
ting the storms, and experience of all 
kinds of dangers at sea, make the 
good sailor; and experience in many 
wars and hardships makes the soldier : 
and yet that you may be enabled to 
endure hardness as a good soldier of 
Jesus Christ, we do not recommend you 
to resort to the army to get your dis- 
cipline as christian soldiers, but would 
advise rather not to expose yourselves 
to moral contamination, and ever pray 
" Lead us not into temptation." But, 
wherever we may be we should have 
on the whole armour of God, that we 
may be able to stand in the evil day. 



LIEUTENANT E . 57 

We noticed also that the greater 
portion of the pious persons that we 
met in the army, had become so since 
their connection with it. This may 
teach us that God's ways are not as 
our ways. 

It would not be our way to send a 
young man into the army, nor to place 
him in the forecastle of a ship, that he 
might there find the way of life ; but 
so, as it seems, God sometimes does, 
and this partly, no doubt, that he may 
try his people's faith, and call out the 
more earnest prayers of parents and 
friends. 

It is to bring them to feel that if 
those wayward ones are saved, the 
Lord alone can save them ; and thus 
they are brought to cast themselves 
wholly on the Lord. Furthermore, 
these considerations admonish the am- 



58 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

bassador of Christ that wherever he 
may be, still he should remember his 
commission, and be watching for souls, 
for in what may seem to him the most 
unlikely places, there yet may be 
some of those who are God's chosen 
vessels of mercy. 

THE CONTRAST. 

One pleasant peaceful Sabbath after- 
noon, having just closed the service in 
the upper ward of the hospital, an ar- 
tilleryman stepped in from an outer 
ward, on the same floor, and begged 
me to call around and speak with one 
of his comrades, who was near dying. 
I had heard about this man before; the 
same comrade who now pointed out his 
bed, had previously requested me to 
converse with him, but the man had 
always avoided me. Often had he 



THE CONTRAST. 59 

been alarmed in view of death, and the 
judgment : at times, his distress of 
mind had been very great. But, while 
suffering thus he would generally re- 
sort to strong drink to drown his sor- 
rows, and thus he would grieve the 
Holy Spirit. Once or twice he had 
attempted suicide, for he was a misera- 
ble man; and more miserable after his 
debauches, than before them. He was 
frequently on the sick list ; often in 
the hospital for a little while at a 
time ; but now it was evident he was 
not to leave it again till carried to his 
narrow house. 

I was approaching his cot, which 
was in the farthest end of the ward. 
He saw me coming, and beckoned me 
away ; and as I drew near he shut his 
eyes. I addressed him as mildly and 
tenderly as I was able, but he said, 



60 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

" Sir, I am very weak, and can't talk." 
I answered, " Then let me talk to you, 
or read a few verses from the Bible." 
" No, sir," said he, " I'm very sick." I 
begged him to listen to a few words 
which Jesus spake to those who were 
labouring and heavy laden. " No, sir," 
said he, " not now — to-morrow — I 
need sleep now." " My friend, I fear 
you may not live till to-morrow," said 
I : " I entreat you to think on your 
condition and danger, and pray to God 
to have mercy on you." While I was 
speaking he turned himself in the bed, 
to get away from me as much as pos- 
sible. 

After waiting a few moments, I 
walked around to the other side of his 
cot, and began repeating some of the 
gospel invitations. " It's too late, 
sir," said he ; " it's too late, it's of no 
use." 



THE CONTRAST. 61 

I said, " As you say, you are indeed 
very sick, and may not have many 
hours left you, in which to prepare for 
eternity; and you know that those 
who die in their sins, where God and 
Christ is, they can never come. But, 
if, with all your heart, and with true 
sorrow for sin, like the thief on the 
cross, you will say, ' Lord, remember 
me/ he will take you to be with him 
in paradise." " It's too late," he re- 
peated, " and I wish to be quiet." I 
begged him not to speak thus, for 
while there is life we may hope that 
there is mercy for us ; even till the 
eleventh hour, God may be waiting to 
be gracious. But he only answered, 
and with some appearance of peevish- 
ness, ci I had rather not hear anything 
more about any of these things," and 
he drew the bed-clothes over his head. 
6 



62 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

It was hard to have to leave him in 
such a state of mind — a soul just lin- 
gering a few moments here, and then 
to try the realities of the unseen 
world, and not reconciled to God. I 
asked once more, if I might kneel and 
pray with him; but he gave me no 
answer. I added a few more words 
and left him. He must have been ex- 
pecting to die soon — he had been told 
that he might not see the morning: but 
he w 7 as unconcerned. There seemed 
to be no fear of hell, or desire for hea- 
ven. Yet he was not stupefied with 
medicines, nor was he delirious ; but 
he was in a moral stupor, and deter- 
mining to remain so as long as possi- 
ble. He would not be disturbed. He 
might be just on the point of falling 
into the lake which burneth with fire 
and brimstone, but he would not allow 



THE CONTRAST. 63 

himself to think of its horrors, nor give 
himself the trouble to raise one cry for 
mercy. 

The Holy Spirit had striven with 
him many times, but he had grieved 
him, and now he seemed to be given 
up to hardness of heart. 

When the Holy Spirit ceases to 
strive with the sinner, it is, indeed, 
too late ; for what hope is there for 
those concerning whom God has said, 
"Let them alone?" 

But in the middle ward, lay another 
dying man, and within hearing of the 
man with whom I had been convers- 
ing; for, on that warm summer even- 
ing, all the doors and passages were 
open for the circulation of air. This 
one had been recently brought to the 
hospital from the transport ship. Du- 
ring the fortnight in which he had lain 



64 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

where he now was, I had visited him 
occasionally, and with great personal 
comfort and edification. His hope was 
t as an anchor to his soul ; he had con- 
stant joy and peace. Before his life 
was despaired of, he was resigned to 
the will of God — willing to suffer, yet 
desiring to recover, if it might please 
God to give him health again ; for, hav- 
ing been sometime absent from his 
company on the invalid list, he had 
anticipated much pleasure in being 
again permitted to enjoy the society of 
his christian associates. His Bible and 
hymn book, and a few tracts, w r ere al- 
ways on his table, from which he read, 
or requested another to read to him. 
He seemed not to think, or to be at all 
troubled with the thought, that religion 
might be unpopular with those about 
him. He seemed to worship God with 



THE CONTRAST. 65 

as little restraint as if he had been in a 
room by himself. At length he became 
aware that his prospects for recovery 
were diminishing, and then all his # 
thoughts were going out towards hea- 
ven ; his soul seemed to be poising its 
wings, and to seem almost impatient to 
be gone to the bright world of bliss. 
He talked of heaven, of glory, of see- 
ing God, of being with Jesus. He 
repeated, and sung, and often without 
any one to sing with him, the hymns 
which, while in health, he had sung 
with the people of God. The pious 
soldiers would, in turn, obtain permis- 
sion to attend him ; and on this Sab- 
bath afternoon, as I was about leaving 
the hospital, there were several gather- 
ing in to see him ; and he at once en- 
gaged them in singing around his bed 
his favourite hymns. 



66 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

And what an effect that had upon 
the other inmates of the hospital ! 
Some, indeed, could not endure to re- 
main where there was even so slight a 
semblance to heaven as that, but stole 
away and left the house : — how much 
more then, would heaven be disagree- 
able to them ! how could they endure 
the song of the hundred and forty and 
four thousand ? But others lay, or sat 
up on their cots, listening as if in won- 
der. Some drew near while the hymn 
was sung, to hear the dying disci- 
ple speak of his dear Jesus, and tell 
of his charms ; and to look in his face, 
lit up as it was, with the hope of im- 
mortality, and showing that his soul 
was already revelling in spiritual de- 
lights. 

When the singing was done, one 
man whispered to the one next him, 



THE CONTRAST. 67 

" That's a christian — there's no hypo- 
crisy there." Another said, " I wish / 
were as well prepared to die." 

The next morning, pretty early, I 
visited the hospital, and met the apoth- 
ecary in the door, who said, " We had 
a casualty last night," which was his 
easy way of saying that another im- 
mortal spirit had fled — that another of 
our fellow men had gone to render his 
account. 

The poor artilleryman had lingered 
till nearly morning. Probably he de- 
parted out of this life in the state of 
mind in which I last saw him. And, 
I think, another man died during the 
night, who had also refused to hear 
anything about the world to come. 
But he who longed to depart, and be 
with Christ, waited till the afternoon 
of that day before Jesus came to re- 



68 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ceive him to himself, to be with him 
where he is, and to behold his glory. 
To the last, he was exhorting his bre- 
thren to faithfulness, and warning the 
unconverted, and assuring them that 
religion was not a farce, nor the Bible 
a cunningly devised fable; and show- 
ing in his own appearance that his 
faith was the substance of things hoped 
for, and the evidence of things not 
seen. 

What a contrast ! One, while in 
health, had neglected to secure the one 
thing needful. On his dying bed he 
was weak, and the Holy Spirit was not 
with him, either to help his infirmities, 
or to comfort him, or to break his hard 
heart. We fear he died without the one 
thing needful, and went to the judg- 
ment without it, is without it yet, and 
so will be for ever. 



THE DYING SAILOR. 69 

The other was wise betimes, and 
chose that good part, and in the hour 
of trial it was not taken from him ; in 
his weakness he was enabled to retain 
it ; amid the temptations and terrors 
of dissolving nature, when flesh and 
heart fail, still he held fast to his good 
part, and carried it with him when 
borne by angels through the skies. 
Still, in heaven he has that good part, 
and never, never — not to all eternity, 
shall it be taken away from him. 

Reader, would you die the death of 
the righteous? Then must you live 
the life of the righteous. 

THE DYING SAILOR. 

One bright morning of spring, the 
hospital sergeant called to say that a 
sailor at the hospital was anxious to see 
a clergyman. Very soon I started to 



70 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

visit him, walking through the busy, 
noisy streets of the city; crowding my 
way through the dense masses of 
people who were labouring for the 
meat which perisheth, and many of 
whom would need to exert themselves 
to the utmost to gather enough to 
satisfy the demands of hunger for the 
day, and feed others that were de- 
pendent on them. I was going to see 
a man who was beginning to feel the 
vanity of all earthly things, and to 
think of the preparation to be made for 
leaving the world. When outside the 
city, I turned off from the thronged 
street to reach the hospital, by a wind- 
ing path through the fields. Here was 
a field of rice, there a field of barley; 
here a patch of garden vegetables, and 
there a field in yellow blossoms. All 
here was peaceful, the air fragrant, the 



THE DYING SAILOR. 71 

birds happy, but I was still think- 
ing of the poor sailor with half the 
circumference of the globe between 
him and his native land, without loving 
friends to smooth his dying pillow, 
without a familiar face to look upon 
him; with only paid officials, and ser- 
vants whose hearts had long since 
grown callous — with only these to look 
upon him in their round of duty. 

This sick sailor had been removed 
from a passing ship to another sta- 
tioned in the harbour; and by permis- 
sion had been again removed to the 
hospital. He seemed aware that he 
had not long to live, and was anxious 
to get ready to leave the world. His 
parents, he stated, were " members of 
the church;" and he spoke of them 
with some emotion — said they had well 
instructed him in his youth; he had 



72 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

been "christened and confirmed/' and 
had tried to live correctly in the main. 
Indeed he seemed to be trusting too 
much, as I thought, to his baptism, 
and confirmation, and moral life; and 
therefore I spoke of the insufficiency 
of our own righteousness, that it cannot 
come into the account at all — of the 
corruption of our nature ; of our need of 
Christ's righteousness ; of the new birth ; 
of repentance and faith. He did not 
seem inclined to talk, and I could 
hardly learn what was his state of 
mind, or how much knowledge he pos- 
sessed of the plan of salvation ; but I 
feared it might not be very clear. I 
looked upon him stretched upon his 
couch, and thought of him as nigh 
unto death, and perhaps, without the 
one thing needful, and I endeavoured 
to bring him to see his state, that he 
might be aroused to earnest prayer. 



THE DYING SAILOR. 73 

He was reminded of the judgment, 
and that he would need an Advocate 
there — of the marriage supper, and 
that there he would need the wedding 
garment. But these subjects did not 
seem to interest him as I had hoped 
they would. It may be that the 
truths presented were undermining 
some old hope, and disturbing a false 
peace. He listened, however, but said 
little. He looked like one disap- 
pointed; as though the minister was 
not doing for him what he expected. 
He could not say that he felt prepared 
to die ; nor did he appear willing to 
set about that preparation. He was 
told of the necessity of immediate re- 
pentance, of earnest prayer for the 
forgiveness of our sins, and that we 
must look only unto Jesus, crying, 
Lord, save, or I perish. After prayer, 
1 



74 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

and having remained with him as long 
as seemed profitable, I bade him good 
morning, hoping to see him again on 
the following day. But death was 
nearer than I supposed. I was not to 
see him again till we meet at the judg- 
ment : I, to answer for my faithfulness ; 
he, to answer for the use he made of 
the knowledge he had of the way of life, 
for the exhortations he heard, and for 
the space given him in which to set 
his house in order. 

The next day we committed the dust 
to its dust again. Perhaps it was well 
with him, but I feared not ; and I was 
led to reflect, How many are building 
on the sand ! How many there are 
who are unwilling to be disturbed in 
their carnal security ! Even on their 
death beds, how many still hug a de- 
lusion! they endeavour to suppress 



THE DYING SAILOR. 75 

anxious thought, and are pleased with 
others only as they cry Peace, peace, 
though there be no peace for them. 
This disposition is particularly mani- 
fest amongst the Roman Catholics. The 
priests have told them that they are 
safe, and they will believe it. Having 
confessed and received absolution, they 
are unwilling to be again disturbed 
with any doubts whatever. It is not, 
however, the priest's words altogether 
that have quieted them, but the delu- 
sive influence of the devil, and their 
preference for any system of religion 
that will afford them indulgence in 
their mental sluggishness, and moral 
stupidity. There is reason to believe 
that some who have been Protestants 
in understanding, and have really no 
confidence in the priests, neverthe- 
less, will on their death-beds receive 



76 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

what are termed the Consolations of the 
Church ; they welcome any one that 
will sew pillows to the arm holes — 
that will indulge them in their false 
hopes. And just so the heathen. 
They trust in lies, and are impatient 
when attempts are made to drive them 
from those refuges. They had rather 
go to the place of the dead as they 
are, though they acknowledge that 
to them the future is all uncertainty, 
with much of fearful looking for of 
judgment ; they had rather launch into 
eternity blindfold, than have any more 
doubts started in their minds. 

Surely madness is in the hearts of 
such men while they live. A few 
days of sleeping and slumbering are 
bought with a surprise at death, and 
an eternity of self-reproaches and an- 
guish. 



THE SOLITARY BURIAL. 77 

THE SOLITARY BURIAL. 

It was during one of those seasons, 
when, as we found in that latitude, 
and that position near the sea, the 
clouds are wont to pour out their con- 
tents for days together, that I walked 
just before night down to the harbour, 
and ran into the office of a mercantile 
house, on an errand, which I executed 
hastily, and turned to hurry home be- 
fore dark, and before the night sentinel 
should be placed at the city gates ; for 
I had no lantern, nor did I know the 
countersign. 

The proprietor of the establishment 
was not at home; there was only a 
clerk in the house, and he, though 
from the land of John Knox, from the 
land of the Sabbath and the Bible, yet 
was as hardened and profane a crea- 
7* 



78 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ture, as is often to be met amongst 
those who still wish to be ranked with 
decent people. He had spent some 
years in Mexico, some elsewhere, re- 
ceiving occasional remittances from an 
uncle at home, who had been appointed 
his guardian. He drank champagne 
when he could get it; if that could not 
be had, then something else — anything 
but water. He seldom spoke without 
an accompanying oath, and his pro- 
fanity was shocking. 

Just as I was at the top of the 
stairs, to go down, he mentioned that a 
sick sailor had been sent ashore from 
an American ship, and was lodged in 
that house. I did not understand that 
he w r as considered immediately danger- 
ous. I had no time to spare, if I would 
get back into the city that night ; and 
my wife was there alone. I promised 




" 2sow let's go and say an oration over him, and put 

hi in to rest. p. 79. 



THE SOLITARY BURIAL. 79 

myself that I would call the next morn- 
ing and see this sick sailor. But 
early the next morning I received a 
note, stating that the sailor was dead, 
and desiring me to " please come and 
bury him." All the night it had 
rained, and it was raining yet, and the 
clouds were low and black. When I 
arrived the body was already nailed 
up in a rough box, and six half-dressed 
coolies — Chinese labourers — were 
standing by, waiting to carry it away, 
and put it into the hole they had been 
digging. The young Scotchman — 
young in years, but old in transgres- 
sion — was there, smoking his cigar. 
"And now," says he, " let's go and 
say an oration over him, and put him 
to rest." 

To me, that was a dismal funeral, 
though, besides the black clouds hang- 



80 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ing like funeral drapery, there was lit- 
tle that was befitting a burial ; but to 
me it was solemn. Oh, that I had 
taken time last evening to see this 
man ! thought I. During that rainy, 
dreary night, and probably alone, he 
had died. Who was he ? Who were 
his friends ? Do father and mother, 
brother or sister, survive to wish and 
wonder if the wanderer will ever come 
home? 

Did he know that he was so near 
his end ? and how did he meet the 
king of terrors ? Had he hope ? Was 
Jesus with him? Was he ministered 
unto by the angels of the Lord that 
encamp round about them that fear 
him, to deliver them? Did heaven 
open to his dying eyes, that, like Ste- 
phen, he might see the glory of God, 
and Jesus standing on the right hand 



THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 81 

of God? and so, did he peacefully fall 
asleep, to sleep in Jesus till the morn- 
ing of the resurrection ? Or, were his 
prospects for the future as dark as was 
that dark night, in which his soul was 
made to quit its house of clay ? 

Let these occurrences teach me, said 
I, never to lose an opportunity which 
offers of speaking a word in season; 
for this opportunity neglected, another 
may not be afforded. 

THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 

Once, having been visiting the sick, 
and while passing through the hospital- 
yard to go home, a young man of gen- 
teel manners, in the invalids' cap and 
gown, saluted me by touching his cap, 
and said, "I have been waiting here to 
speak with you, sir, and if you please, I 
would beg the favour of a moment's 
conversation." 



82 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

He then spoke very briefly of the 
kind of life he had led — of his enlist- 
ment, of his life in the army, of his 
conviction of sin, his long-continued 
seeking and his hope at length, of his 
willingness, as he thought, to forsake 
all and follow Christ, and especially 
of his desire now to profess Christ be- 
fore the world. Whatever cross there 
might be for him to bear, he was ready 
to take it up. 

Learning what I could of his state 
of mind during that brief interview, I 
requested him, as soon as convenient, 
to call upon me, which he did, within 
a few days; and in the mean time, I 
had opportunity of learning more about 
him, through some of those who wit- 
nessed his daily life in the garrison. 

He entertained some hope that he 
had experienced a change of heart; 



THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 83 

yet of this he dared not be too confi- 
dent. To be born again was a great 
thing, and often, when thinking of it, 
it seemed to him that a person in whom 
this work had been wrought, must ex- 
perience a greater change in his feel- 
ings, and exhibit a more perfect refor- 
mation in his life than was to be found 
in his case. But he could say that he 
felt differently of late, from anything 
he had felt in former times. He had 
now no relish for former amusements. 
His old associates were not now conge- 
nial* companions. Now, he preferred 
the society of the people of God. He 
loved to read the Bible, and it did him 
good to think it was God's own word ; 
he found pleasure in meetings for reli- 
gious worship. Secret prayer he es- 
teemed a privilege, and in it he felt 
that he drew near to God. He was 



84 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

willing, yea, he desired, as he thought, 
to take up every cross, and engage in 
every duty which Christ requires of 
his disciples. He had, for some time, 
been wishing for an opportunity to 
make a public profession of his faith ; 
and if I was willing, he would regard 
it a great privilege could he receive 
baptism, and unite with those who are 
permitted to remember their Lord in 
the breaking of bread. 

After this, I saw him frequently : 
he embraced opportunities for conver- 
sing on religious subjects ; he was 
never absent from the meetings except 
necessarily detained : he was an eager 
student of the scriptures ; he searched 
them, aided by a reference Bible, which 
was furnished him, and which he 
highly prized. 

After a number of weeks, being 
pleased with his humility, and hoping 



THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 85 

that he had learned of Jesus, who is 
meek and lowly in heart, I could not 
longer refuse water that he should be 
baptized ; and so, at the communion 
season, which we observed once in two 
months at our house in the city, on the 
Sabbath afternoon, on confession of his 
faith he was baptized, and took his 
seat with a few who, in an upper 
chamber received the bread and the 
wine, dedicating themselves anew to 
Christ, and seeking an increase of spi- 
ritual strength in which to go on again 
for many days. 

Those communion seasons we will 
never forget. A holy quiet reigned 
where we were assembled, and each 
one seemed to feel, 

" How sweet and awful is the place, 
With Christ within the doors, 
While everlasting love displays 
The choicest of her stores I" 
8 



86 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Those services were solemn, but 
they were simple. In the very room 
where we sat every day — with a little 
table spread with a simple white cover 
— the wine and the bread — a few com- 
municants in red coats, a few in blue, 
and in buff, a few in citizen's dress, a 
few women, now and then a fellow 
missionary, or an invalid brother or 
sister, occasionally a stranger, whose 
home and whose altar were half around 
the globe from us — a passage of scrip- 
ture read — a hymn — a few words spo- 
ken — the elements distributed by the 
minister. People of different denomi- 
nations sat at that communion table : 
Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, 
Methodists, and people from different 
countries. 

Oh, if there are any of my days 
that may come again, may they be 



THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 87 

like those! It was to sit in the ban- 
quetting house with Christ's banner 
over us. We communed with him. 
He came in and supped with us, and 
we with him. 

Let me say a few words more re- 
specting that young man. According 
to his own account, which I gathered 
from him from time to time, he was the 
son of a merchant in London, w r as 
trusted with more pocket money than 
was needful, was more in the streets 
than was for his good ; his dislike for 
school increased, and he played the 
truant frequently; he was sometimes re- 
proved and punished, but, for the most 
part, w T as entrusted to teachers and 
governors, his own father having too 
much business on his hands to look 
very carefully into the conduct of his 
own son. To get him away from the 



88 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

dissipation of London, he was sent to 
France, in the care of some relatives, 
who had gone there to reside, because 
their income was insufficient to support 
them in England, in the style to which 
they had been accustomed, and they 
were too proud to take a lower grade 
in society. Here he was still sent to 
school, and became an elegant French 
scholar. At length, he was recalled, 
and put as a clerk in his father's store ; 
but being neither so diligent nor faith- 
ful in business as he ought, he received 
reproof from his father, which, like a 
spoiled child, he resisted, and, in fool- 
ish and wicked anger he threatened to 
enlist. At first, he applied to the 
Horse Guards ; but had not interest 
enough to procure him a berth there. 
Then, being met by a recruiting officer 
for the East India company, who flat- 



THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 89 

tered him for his fine form and military 
bearing, and assured him that young 
men with talents and education, were 
promoted rapidly in India; he drank 
in the compliments, and enlisted, and 
fancied himself on the road to fame 
and wealth. But he was transported 
to India like any common recruit, and 
was a private yet. 

In the cantonment, and in the tented 
field, this young man had time for re- 
flection which he had not had before, 
or rather, which had not before been 
so well improved. The daily lessons 
in the life of a soldier — the lessons of 
God's providence which only harden 
the many, and prove to them a savour 
of death unto death, did, in this case, 
prove to be the means, or one of the 
means, by which the heart was to be 
made soft. 



90 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Diseases rapidly thinned their ranks 
upon their first arrival in Chusan, 
during the rainy season, when they 
were without barracks, and much ex- 
posed in their tents, and the earth, 
on which they slept, was saturated 
with water. Their provisions were 
unwholesome, and their numbers were 
diminished, not so much by the ene- 
mies' bullets, as by fevers and dysen- 
tery. It was not uncommon for the 
officer of the night, on going his round 
to relieve the guard, to find that the king 
of terrors had gone the round before him 
and called away the sentinel, without sta- 
tioning another in his place. In those 
days, the formalities of funerals were 
dispensed with, and it was customary 
to detail little squads of men to go 
around and bury the dead ; which they 
did by stripping off their belts, and 



THE YOUNG ARTILLERYMAN. 91 

interring them without a coffin, on 
that hill within the city of Tinghae, 
which became well nigh covered with 
lowly graves, which had no headstone, 
nor anything to mark the spot as trea- 
suring the dust of a fellow being. In 
the burying-ground, which was after- 
wards used, on the side of the hill 
which was crowned with the fort that 
guarded the harbour, where many 
monuments were erected, was one 
placed there by surviving comrades, to 
the memory of three hundred and fifty 
non-commissioned officers and privates, 
of one regiment, who fell by the casu- 
alties of war and disease. Those were 
of a different regiment from that to 
which our young friend belonged ; but 
they were gathered to the generation 
of the dead during the same days as 
those in which his own messmates were 



92 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

falling around him, like leaves in au- 
tumn. Whenever he alluded to those 
scenes, a soldier though he was, the 
tears would run down his cheeks. 

This perhaps was the school which 
God designed he should pass through 
that he might learn how brittle is the 
thread of life, how uncertain and how 
unsatisfactory are worldly honours, and 
what folly it is for a being capable of 
enjoying immortal life and glory to 
live for nothing, and perish like the 
brutes. 

Now he seemed anxious to be living 
for a better purpose. He searched the 
scriptures daily, and spent much of 
his leisure time in profitable reading. 
He appeared to grow in grace, and to 
have an increasing desire to be more 
widely useful. There was evidence 
that he was faithful in improving his 
opportunities for benefitting others. 



REGENERATION — REFORMATION. 9 3 
REGENERATION MORE THAN REFORMATION. 

S , the young man of whom we 

have been speaking, had a companion 
whose history had been somewhat like 
his own. He was a person of good 
manners, and some education. Through 
the influence of S , he was in- 
duced to attend the meetings. He 
had broken off his drinking habits, and 
now professed penitence, hoped he 
was reformed, and gave such an ac- 
count of his feelings, hopes, and determi- 
nations as looked somewhat as though 
he might be a renewed man ; and he 
wished to be admitted to the ordi- 
nances, and take upon himself the vows 
of God. 

This request was kindly entertained, 
but he was advised to wait and test 
his experience somewhat further. For 



94 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

a few weeks he held out well; was 
regular at the religious services, and 
attentive and serious when present, 
and outwardly, so far as I could see or 
learn from others, his conduct was un- 
exceptionable. But by and by, having 
come in possession of a small sum of 
money which he had earned by wri- 
ting — for he was an excellent penman 
— temptation and appetite for drink 
again proved stronger than his resolu- 
tions ; his feet were in a slippery place 
and he fell. 

I shall not be likely soon to forget 
the pain I felt one Sabbath afternoon 
soon after he had suffered strong 
drink to overcome him. I was going 
to the chapel, and he was hurrying to 
some of those haunts of the drunkard 
where liquor was sold by the Chinese. 
The moment he caught a glimpse of 



REGENERATION — REFORMATION. 9 5 

me, he shot down a narrow filthy alley, 
ashamed to be seen. That evening we 
were expecting again to meet for com- 
munion one with another, and with 
Christ our Head, and to remember 
him in the breaking of bread ; and 
this young man, had he continued to 
appear as well as he did at first, and 
had he still desired to profess Christ, 
would undoubtedly have been with 
us ; but it had already happened unto 
him according to the true proverb, 
"The dog has turned to his own 
vomit again ; and the sow that was 
washed to her wallowing in the mire." 
Another of the stony ground hear- 
ers, thought I : he heard the word, and 
anon with joy he seemed to receive it 
— he heard gladly, and did many 
things ; but having no root in himself, 
he endured but for a time. 



96 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Poor fellow ! How I pitied him ! 
I pitied him, as still in the gall of bit- 
terness, and bond of iniquity ; for in 
such case I feared he still was. I pi- 
tied him, as still led captive by Satan. 
I pitied him, as still a slave to his lusts. 
I pitied him, because of the weakness 
of his resolution, and that Satan and 
his appetite should find him so easy a 
prey. 

I remembered how he had appeared 
to enjoy the few months in which he 
had abstained from intoxicating drink, 
and what pleasure he seemed to find in 
the hope that he might continue to be 
a man, and never again become a sot ; 
and seeing how those hopes were 
dashed, well might I pity him. 

How sad his case ! Thinking of him 
only as a human being, how sad his 
case ! He had mental abilities and 



REGENERATION REFORMATION. 9 7 

education that would have adorned a 
nobler place than his, who has to be 
marched, and countermarched, halted 
and wheeled, and marched again, at the 
sound of fife and drum. But, al- 
though he was a soldier, he might still 
have remained a man ; yes, and even 
have become a brother of the Son of 
God, had he resisted temptation, and 
had he hearkened to Him who says, 
" Wash you : make you clean ; put 
away the evil of your doings from be- 
fore mine eyes; cease to do evil; 
learn to do well." " Come now, and 
let us reason together, saith the Lord : 
though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool." 

This young man did not forget the 
few days of sunshine, which he en- 
9 



98 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

joyed while he was trying to live like 
a rational being ; and he remembered 
us, and still expressed thankfulness for 
the kindness that had been shown him, 
and for the encouragement he had re- 
ceived ; but shame kept him from our 
house, and his friends could not prevail 
on him to abandon again his drinking 
habits. 

That was another chapter of reli- 
gious experience for me to study in the 
beginning of my ministerial life. 
Though I did not expect ever to be 
able to know the heart — not even my 
own, and much less that of another, 
for the heart is deceitful above all 
things — though I did not expect ever 
to be able to know certainly, whether 
any person professing to be converted 
is a genuine believer or not; yet it 
strengthened the conviction that the 



REGENERATION REFORMATION. 9 9 

candidate for church privileges should 
not be received too hastily, but that 
time should be afforded for knowing 
the tree by its fruit. It gave me oc- 
casion to reflect on the insecurity of 
any one who is exposed to temptation, 
and has not grace sufficient for him ; 
and cannot, or does not, see his need 
to pray to God, " Cast me not away 
from thy presence ; and take not thy 
Holy Spirit from me." " Keep back 
thy servant also from presumptuous 
sins ; let them not have dominion over 
me." It caused me to be more dis- 
trustful of mere reformations, and to 
be less sanguine, in regard to any per- 
son reported as reformed, until there 
be some evidence that the heart is re- 
newed, and that God is working in 
him to will, and to do of his good 
pleasure. 



100 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Where there is regeneration, there 
will be a reformation ; but there are 
many partial reformations without a 
regeneration. 

His company was detained a few 
months at Hong Kong, and while there 
S , in a letter, speaks of his com- 
rade to this effect : " My friend J 

has, for some time, been entirely sober, 
and is hoping and, he says, praying 
also, that he may reform altogether. 
But I dare not be sanguine, for temp- 
tations are numerous, and that appetite 
for strong drink is the hardest thing to 
be conquered." 

SAMSHU, AND WHAT IT DID. 

Speaking of the mischief wrought 
by strong drink, reminds me of an- 
other painful case, that of private 
W . For a number of months, he 



SAMSHU, AND WHAT IT DID. 101 

was as regular and attentive at all the 
meetings as any man that came. Not 
a lisp had I ever heard that anything 
was wrong as to his habits, although I 
knew that in one corner of the canton- 
ment was a large building which went 
by the appellation of the Canteen, 
where English ale, and London porter 
were dealt out, and where were always 
many loungers, drinking and smoking, 
and fighting their old battles over 
again. And I knew that almost any- 
where, around the cantonments, in the 
city and in the country, were plenty 
of the Chinese prepared to furnish the 
soldier with Samshu, which was an in- 
toxicating drink, manufactured from 
rice. In our walks, it was no uncom- 
mon thing to meet with drunken sol- 
diers ; and the Sabbath, being a day 
in which the men had greater liberty 



102 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

than on other days, was signalized as 
a time of more general drunkenness 
and rioting. But who had ever 

dreamed of private W being 

found in such transgression ? Yet, un- 
looked for as it might be, one evening, 
just as the prayer meeting was dis- 
missed, and the people were about 

leaving, corporal P drew near, and 

said in a low and mournful voice, " It's 

a sad thing, sir, but W has took 

to drink." And then all was still 
again. I seem even now to see that 
little band of men, standing with caps 
in hand, all gloomy and anxious, as 
you may imagine a company of peo- 
ple who have just received some alarm- 
ing or afflictive intelligence, and have 
met to consult ; each waiting for an- 
other to propose some measure, but no 
one having courage to break the pain- 
ful stillness. 



SAMSHU, AND WHAT IT DID. 103 

Then was illustrated that scripture, 
"Whether one member suffer, all the 
members suffer with it." They were 
sorry for what had occurred ; and it 
was evident that they were desirous 
of doing what the scriptures enjoin 
where they say, "Brethren, if a man 
be overtaken in a fault, ye which are 
spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit 
of meekness; considering thyself, lest 
thou also be tempted. Bear ye one 
another's burdens, and so fulfil the 
law of Christ." 

The advice given them was, to treat 
the erring brother kindly, and endea- 
vour to recover him ; especially to pray 
for him, and use every effort to draw 
him away from the haunts of vice, and 
places of temptation. 

But poor W seemed deter- 
mined, like one who had quite lost 



104 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

caste, to throw himself away. The 
next Sabbath day I saw him standing 
in the way with sinners, playing at 
ball ; though he was careful to keep his 
face turned away from me. His wife, 
who was a kind-hearted and simple- 
minded, but devotedly pious woman, 
was thrown into great distress by this 
folly and wickedness in her husband, 
and entreated all to pray for him. 

Immediately subsequent to this oc- 
currence, there were commenced some 
more energetic efforts in behalf of 
temperance, or total abstinence. A 
pledge was prepared, and the soldiers 
circulated it, and obtained a few signa- 
tures. Books, papers, and tracts on 
the subject were gathered, and put in 
circulation, and some good doubtless 
was accomplished. 

W made his wife and his bre- 



SAMSHU, AND WHAT IT DID. 105 

thren happy by signing the pledge, and 
making confession of his fault. But it 
was not long till he fell the second 
time. And again he reformed. 
When he left the island with his regi- 
ment he was sober, and apparently 
penitent, and declared that "he'd not 
drink any more" ever. 

I hardly knew what to think of him. 
When I remembered his irreproachable 
behaviour for a number of months, the 
enjoyment which he appeared to find 
in religious duties, I hoped in regard 
to him. When I thought of the ease 
with which he relapsed into sin after 
his reformations, I doubted ; and still I 
doubted when I saw his repentance 
lighter than I would be glad to see, 
and too little remorse and self loathing 
— too little of the shame, and confes- 
sion, and self-abasement, and desire 



106 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

for forgiveness, for cleansing, for a new 
heart, and for reconciliation with God 
such as David expressed in the 51st 
psalm. But again I desired to be cha- 
ritable, for in this world all of us are 
compassed with infirmity — sanctified 
but in part. God's long suffering is 
great — there is forgiveness with him. 
Peter was forgiven. David was for- 
given; but their confession was full — 
their sorrow was heart-rending — their 
prayer for forgiveness earnest and 
humble. 

Did I intimate that I would give an 
account of Samshu — a full history of 
it, and what it did ? That is more than 
I would undertake; and the record 
would be too long, and the pages would 
be too dark. It would be a narration 
of family quarrels, and street brawls ; 



107 

of one person beaten to death by his 
friend , when merry with wine, and 
that friend paying the penalty for it, 
when sober. The intoxicating drinks, 
which the heathen make, do precisely 
what is done by the liquors which are 
manufactured in christian countries. 

Those who tarry long at either, will 
have wo, sorrow, contentions, babbling, 
wounds without cause, redness of 
eyes. 

It filled the guard houses at Chusan. 
It undoubtedly sent to the hospital 
more than the diseases of the country 
would have done, unaided by intem- 
perate habits in the victims. 

It doubtless gave more to him who 
rides on the pale horse, than both war 
and pestilence. It was Satan's pre- 
scription to convicted sinners, to help 
them to forget their fears, to drown 



108 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

conviction, and say to the Spirit, 
" Go thy way for this time ;" and it 
passed his victims over to him into the 
pit more rapidly. It led to self- 
murders j and of one such case let me 
speak. 

the suicide. . 

There was a certain bridge over 
which I never passed without being 
reminded of a tragical scene which it 
once witnessed. 

The bridge was of stone, arching 
over the water, with sculptured lions 
rampant at each end, and on either 
side. It had been a " bridge of sighs." 
Once, in the forenoon of a bright sum- 
mer day, a soldier was seen sitting on 
this bridge, the arch of which was 
high over the canal, whose deep chan- 
nel it spanned. That soldier was 



THE SUICIDE. 109 

known to be in a gloomy state of mind, 
for strong drink had long been his 
task-master and tormentor, till it had 
quite debased and dispirited him. 

Often had he been lodged in the 
guard-house ; often had he been sub- 
jected to extra drills, and made to 
march up and down, exposed to the 
gaze of all; and sometimes under a 
broiling sun, in the full dress of win- 
ter, with knapsack, and all the burden 
which a soldier ever has to carry on an 
expedition: and sometimes, severer 
punishment had been inflicted till he 
had grown tired of life ; and so weary 
of the ills he was suffering, he resolved 
to "fly to others which he knew not of." 

Thus, on that day, and in sight of 

his comrades, who were basking in the 

sun on the wall of the fort, on the hill, 

he plunged headlong into the water, and 

10 



110 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ended his earthly existence ; hastening, 
as it were, uncalled into the presence 
of his Judge. 

THE MIDNIGHT AFFRIGHT. 

Samshu caused us missionaries an 
alarm in the middle of a summer 
night. The entire household was 
• startled from sleep by a great hue-and- 
cry in the streets, and the thoughtless 
Chinese servants ran, and unbarred the 
great black two-leaved wooden gates, 
in order to peep out, just to see what 
was going on ; when in rushed a stal- 
wart English officer, with a drawn 
sword glittering in the moonlight, and 
throwing himself into gladiatorial atti- 
tudes, and threatening the trembling 
Chinese, that he would hew them all to 
pieces unless they delivered up the 
person that had stolen his cap; for, in 



THE MIDNIGHT AFFRIGHT. Ill 

the house where he had been drinking 
and rioting, he had lost this article of 
his dress, and should this be carried 
up to head quarters the next day, and 
the officers head not in it, an account 
of his evening's adventures might be 
called for, which he might prefer not 
to have published. Our Chinese ser- 
vants, teacher, and pupils were sorely 
affrighted ; but one of them had suffi- 
cient presence of mind, and knew 
enough English words, to tell the offi- 
cer that a foreigner lived in that house. 
Whereupon, the gentleman with an 
epaulet on each shoulder, looking up, 
saw a man at the window, in his night 
clothes, but was too drunk to know 
whether he was near the quarters of 
his commanding officer, or only in the 
premises of a poor missionary, yet not 
so drunk as to forget about court-mar- 



112 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

tials, and disgrace. His sword slipped 
into its scabbard. His voice died 
away, and he vanished. 

WEDDED TO FORMS. 

Private B was a man who 

asked more of my attention, and yet 
was probably less pleased with my 
services, than any other, with whom I 
had to do. He was a veteran — a vet- 
eran in many respects. He had seen 
service in different parts of the world, 
and had gone through much hard 
drinking ; and still he survived. Not- 
withstanding all the bullets of all the 
enemies he had faced, and all the vices 
of the camp — the vices of civilized na- 
tions, intensified by whatever of wick- 
edness might be learned amongst the 
heathen, still he was alive. But so 
much hard service was beginning to 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 113 

tell upon him. He might have been 
fifty years of age ; was tall, had been 
a powerful, broad-shouldered, fierce, 
fear-nought fellow ; such as command- 
ers count upon either for bold strokes, 
or for pertinacious resistance. Now, 
however, he was well nigh worn out. 

Being taken suddenly and severely 
ill, he wished the " parson" to be 
called. When I came I found him on 
a cot in the middle of the lower ward 
of the hospital, which he occupied off 
and on, from that time, for many 
months, till at length he was carried 
out to come back no more. 

He welcomed me with many thanks 
for my condescension and kindness in 
coming so far to see him, a poor pri- 
vate, and seemed to speak and act as 
though he was expecting the visit it- 
self was to do him some undefinable 

10* 



114 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

good. He evidently was expecting to 
hear the " service for the sick/' or 
something like it, from a clergyman ; 
and was putting himself into a passive 
attitude, as though the parson might be 
able to apply some unction to the 
soul, something as his surgeon would 
to the body ; and he was not prepared for, 
nor did he seem altogether to under- 
stand my conversation, nor quite to 
relish what he did understand. 

I tried to feel about the heart, but 
could not discover any soreness there ; 
nor scarcely any sensitiveness. It was 
very hard. As well as I knew how, I 
tried the probe, but the instrument — 
the sword of the Spirit — .either did not 
reach to the quick, or touched only 
upon what was indurated, or else a 
mass of corruption ; for the patient 
never winced — there were no apparent 
twinges of conscience. 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 115 

I talked of God, as a holy being, 
hating every sin, displeased with the 
least stain of moral impurity ; of his 
law as reaching to the thoughts and 
intents of the heart ; of the necessity 
therefore of regeneration, for only the 
pure in heart shall see God. I spoke 
of sin as being in itself vile and loath- 
some, and therefore we should abhor 
it, and desire to be freed from it, and 
pray, " Take away all iniquity — cleanse 
me from my sin — create in me a clean 
heart." I went on to say that, being 
enemies to God, we should seek a re- 
conciliation through our Mediator, and 
so be at peace. Having offended our 
Maker, and shown him great contempt, 
in innumerable ways, we ought to re- 
pent of these, and all transgressions 
and disobedience, and with grief and 
hatred of sin, turn from it unto God. 



116 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Having a long catalogue of sins regis- 
tered against us, and a load of guilt 
resting on us, and having no means of 
atoning for the one, or removing the 
other, we need a deliverer, one to bear 
our sins, and be our surety ; and such 
an one is provided in the person of Je- 
sus Christ: but we must accept him as 
our Saviour, must trust in him as our 
sacrifice. We need to have our sins 
removed from us as far as the east is 
from the west ; then must we look to 
Christ to bear them away, and we must 
make full confession of them, with bro- 
kenness of heart. 

Again, those who would be approved 
— fully justified, must have a perfect 
righteousness ; and as, of ourselves, 
we have no righteousness whatever — 
as the good works of the best men are 
only as filthy rags, we need something 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 117 

infinitely better than anything we can 
do, for no person can be justified on 
account of his own righteousness; we 
need the perfect righteousness of 
Christ, and this we may have, it may 
be imputed to us, may be accounted as 
ours, we may have it as a robe to 
cover us ; and we must have, if we 
would be admitted to heaven, for it is 
the wedding garment, without which, 
none can be admitted to the marriage- 
supper of the Lamb ; the righteous- 
ness of Christ is the garment of the 
saints, the pure linen, clean and white, 
in which they are clothed. Moreover, 
every impenitent sinner is like the pro- 
digal, and he must come to himself, 
must see how foolishly and wickedly he 
has been acting, and must be sensible 
how wretched, and miserable, and poor, 
and blind, and naked he is ; he must 



118 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

see his rags, and feel some hunger for 
the bread of life, and must say, " I 
will arise, and go to my Father." 

Yes, the sinner must turn unto God, 
confessing all his sins, and imploring 
forgiveness. Now, my friend, will you 
do this ? Do you understand these 
truths ? Do you see God as holy, and 
yourself a sinner, and have you any 
fear of God, as one who is angry with 
the wicked every day, and as able to 
destroy both soul and body in hell ? 
Do you believe that Jesus is the only 
Saviour of sinners ; the only Mediator 
between God and man ? 

Such truths I endeavoured to hold 
up before him ; and such questions I 
frequently put to him; but, without 
eliciting any satisfactory answer. At 
length, he said, " But I am in the 
church, sir. I am in the church. I 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 119 

was christened and confirmed. I have 
many times taken the sacrament." 

Well, if you are in the church, said 
I, do you live the life of a consistent 
church member ? That is the impor- 
tant consideration. All who come to 
Christ must take up the cross and fol- 
low him ; and must learn of him who 
was meek and lowly in heart. Have 
you invariably been striving to do 
this ? Do you perform all the duties 
which even your prayer book, of which 
you speak, requires of you? Do you 
endeavour to lead a godly life ? 

"Oh, but, your reverence !" said he, 
" there should be allowances made for 
a person in my situation ; it is so hard 
leading a godly life in the barracks, 
and in the camp." 

It may be difficult, I answered, but 
there have been godly soldiers, there 



120 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

are such now ; and, in whatever cir- 
cumstances we may be, it is for us to 
keep a conscience void of offence be- 
fore God and man. 

" But, sir/' he replied, " perhaps 
your reverence is not aware how very 
wicked the people are, and how very 
difficult it is to do everything just 
right in such a place as this. I think 
allowances should be made for a sol- 
dier." 

Do you attend to secret prayer ? I 
asked. 

"Secret prayer, sir !" said he; " se- 
cret prayer ! How could a person in 
the barracks have secret prayer? 
Why, sir, let a man kneel down by 
his cot, and all the boots in the garri- 
son would come whizzing at his head ; 
and such oaths and curses, sir !" 

Have you often tried it ? I asked. 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 121 

"Well — no — I can't say that I have, 
sir." 

There are other places, I said — some 
quiet spots, that one can find if he is 
really disposed to pray to his Father 
who seeth in secret, but who rewards 
openly. Other people find time and 
opportunity for private devotion. Do 
you find such places ? 

" I can't say that I do," he an- 
swered. " Sometimes I think consider- 
ably about it, but some mess-mate 
calls me away, or the bugle calls to 
duty, or something else prevents, and 
so I don't think of it again for some 
time to come." 

Are you fond of reading your Bi- 
ble ? I inquired. 

" Oh, yes, sir," he answered, " I al- 
ways liked to hear the scriptures, and 
would your reverence please just to 
11 



122 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

read them now, I think it would do me 
good." 

It is well to hear the scriptures read, 
I replied, but we must not forget that 
we must so hear, that our souls may 
live. We must be careful not to be 
satisfied with being mere hearers of the 
word, we must be doers also. My 
Catechism says, "That the word of 
God may become effectual to salva- 
tion, we must attend thereunto with 
diligence, preparation, and prayer ; re- 
ceive it with faith and love, lay it up 
in our hearts, and practise it in our 
lives." 

"Yes, sir," he answered, "that's 
true. I have always heard that; I 
would like to hear you read now." 

I perceived, from the first, that he 
was depending upon externals — the 
church service — the prayer of a minis- 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 123 

ter — hearing the scriptures — anything, 
indeed, so that it was religion — an 
outward observance of some religious 
duty — anything to pacify his con- 
science. In fine, he desired something 
that would operate precisely like the 
going to mass, and to confession, with 
the Roman Catholics. So I thought, 
and therefore did not immediately 
gratify his wishes by reading; though 
I usually found the simple reading of 
God's own word, with a few brief com- 
ments and applications, better than 
anything I could say besides. I 
turned again to the subject of the new 
birth, and he as pertinaciously came 
back to his old refuge. "He had been 
brought up in the church. His pa- 
rents were church people ; and he had 
taken the sacrament." 

Do you like the services of the 



124 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

sanctuary ? said I. Do you find en- 
joyment in religious meetings ? 

" Oh, yes, to be sure!" he said; " I 
generally go to church, when I am 
where there is a church." 

I don't recollect having noticed you 
at the chapel, and the prayer meet- 
ings. 

" But, sir," he replied, u we have the 
service read every Sunday for the sol- 
diers, and I always attend that." 

Yes, said I, and whether you like it 
or not, you would be obliged to attend 
either the Protestant or Catholic cha- 
pel ; but would you think that a person 
who was hungering and thirsting after 
righteousness, would be quite satisfied 
with just the reading of the prayers, 
and the lessons, and nothing more, and 
that but once a week ? 

" I don't think I knew about those 
meetings you speak of," he said. 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 125 

I answered, Any of those who at- 
tend would have been glad to have 
shown you. 

" Yes, sir," he answered, " but a 
man naturally falls in with his own 
mess-mates." 

Perhaps, said I. But will not the 
children of God find each other, and 
get together? will they not love to 
talk together about heaven, and tell of 
their joys and sorrows, and watch over 
each other? There are, as you have 
said, many temptations in the army, 
and therefore, so much more need is 
there for those who are endeavouring 
to be soldiers of Christ to march to- 
gether, and to encourage and assist 
one another, so that they may stand in 
the evil day. 

After this manner we passed some 
time together, but I failed to get a par- 
11* 



126 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

tide of evidence that he cared for any- 
thing but a form. He was religious in 
his way, he was devout ; very likely 
he would have given the responses 
heartily. He was very much like the 
heathen who often are quite uneasy 
till they have performed certain reli- 
gious ceremonies, but after that is ac- 
complished feel easy and pretty safe. 

Private B was desirous of saying, 

or having said over him, some religious 
formula, he did not seem particular as 
to what kind it should be. Let it be 
any external religious ceremony, he 
could pillow his conscience on it ; and, 
as results showed, he would be content 
to die on it. With the least show of 
a form of godliness, and knowing that 
his life had been grossly wicked, he 
was willing to try the dread realities 
of eternity. 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 127 

I read a few verses of the Bible — 
offered a short prater — added a few 
more words of exhortation, and rose 
to leave. Notwithstanding my plain- 
ness, he was ready to overwhelm me 
with thanks, and earnestly begged me 
to call again. 

After this I saw him frequently, 
and endeavoured to be faithful with 
him, and the preaching on the Sabbath 
in the hospital was sometimes in the 
ward in which he lay. 

By and by he began to recover, and 
in the same degree that he improved 
in health he seemed to care less for my 
company. 

He had at times alluded to his for- 
mer indulgences, his habits of drink- 
ing, and had excused some of his 
delinquencies on this ground ; but had 
always accused the naughty liquor, or 



128 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

laid the greatest ; share of blame on 
those who bantered him to drink. He 
had, however, solemnly declared, and 
that over and over again, that should 
he get up from that sickness, he would 
be more regular in his habits, and not 
touch intoxicating liquor at all. 

When he was about ready to be 
dismissed from the hospital, I re- 
minded him of his pledge to leave 
strong drink alone, and begged him not 
to forget his promise to attend the re- 
ligious meetings. " Oh, sir," said he, 
" you may trust me for that." 

He was discharged from the hospi- 
tal ; but, as I greatly feared, he kept 
clear of the chapel, and I saw nothing 
of him till another request came to 
visit him in the hospital. 

With his shattered constitution, and 
not thoroughly recovered from his for- 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 129 

mer sickness, his sudden excess, and a 
hot summer's sun soon prostrated him 
again. Though more dangerously ill 
than before, yet he was somewhat less 
alarmed ; but still he was anxious to 
see a clergyman, for this idea yet re- 
mained with him as to what was ne- 
cessary towards putting his house in 
order, viz : that he have the visit of a 
clergyman. 

Again I laboured to show him that 
he was a sinner, that God is angry 
with the wicked every day, that he 
must be born again, and to point him 
to the Lamb of God that taketh away 
the sin of the w T orld. But his heart 
was not opened to receive the truth; 
he was not convinced of sin, of right- 
eousness, and of a judgment to come; 
the god of this world was still blinding 
his mind, lest the light of the glorious 



130 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

gospel of Christ should shine into his 
heart. He retreated within his old 
refuge of lies : he insisted that he was 
born in the church ; brought up in the 
church; had been christened, and con- 
firmed, and had taken the sacrament. 

"We have Abraham to our father," 
said some in old times. 

Once more God in his great mercy 
was pleased to raise him up, but he at 
once forgot the Lord's mercies, and 
cast off fear, and restrained prayer. 
Like the swine he turned to his wal- 
lowing; he herded with his own kind; 
showing by the company he kept, and 
the pleasures he sought, who must be 
his companions for ever, unless an 
entirely new heart w 7 ere created within 
him. 

Though frequent inquiries were 
made respecting him, and though the 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 131 

pious soldiers were requested to watch 
for opportunities of doing him good, 
yet he kept out of my way as far as 
possible, until, on a Sabbath evening, 
having preached in the upper ward of 
the hospital, I came down and was 
passing through the lower ward, and 
was arrested by a feeble voice, " Please 
your reverence! I am glad to see 
your reverence. I was fearing you 
would not pass this way." I went to 
him, and immediately he said, "And, 
please sir, could I receive the sacra- 
ment? I am afraid this is to be the 
last of me here. I am very weak 
now. I would like, sir, to take the 
sacrament. It seems as if I shall not 
get up again." 

Again an attempt was made to con- 
vince him that the sacraments, though 
means of grace, and very precious 



132 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ordinances to the believer, yet of 
themselves could not save a sinner, 
and could not wash away one sin ; and 
that, moreover, none are welcome 
guests at the table of the Lord, but 
those who are his friends, and that 
there is danger in partaking unwor- 
thily, for those who do so, not having 
knowledge to discern the Lord's body, 
nor faith to feed upon him, eat and 
drink judgment to themselves. 

Poor man ! how I felt for him, and 
endeavoured to pray that his mind 
might be enlightened in the knowledge 
of Christ, his will renewed, and he 
persuaded and enabled to embrace 
Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in 
the gospel. But the arm of the Lord 
was not revealed, and he did not receive 
my report. He was sinking into the 
grave; he saw death approaching; he 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 133 

expected soon to launch out into the 
ocean of eternity, and still he was 
trusting to his spider's web : and the 
nearer death approached, the more 
eagerly he clutched it, the more in- 
tently he gazed at it; he would not suffer 
his mind to be directed to that hope 
which is an anchor to the soul. A 
drowning man convulsively catches at 
a straw; so he at the hypocrite's hope. 

" Will you please to administer the 
sacrament to me?" he again asked 
eagerly, turning his sunken eyes im- 
ploringly upon me. 

This seemed the one desire of his 
heart. The sincere penitent on a sick 
and dying bed, who has not before had 
an opportunity of confessing Christ 
before the world, and of sitting at his 
table, may very properly be admitted 
to this ordinance, if it is desired, and 
12 



134 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

from the right motives; but in this 
case there seemed to be nothing differ- 
ent from the Roman Catholic's desire 
for absolution, and extreme unction; 
therefore no encouragement was given 
that the sacrament could be adminis- 
tered to him, but he was exhorted to 
think on what the scriptures teach, 
that many who call Jesus Lord, and 
sit at his table, will hear him say at last, 
"I never knew you, depart from me, 
ye that work iniquity." But whoso- 
ever is born again — every friend of 
the bridegroom — every one that has 
the garments of holiness — shall as- 
suredly eat and drink with Christ in 
his kingdom of glory, whether they 
have enjoyed the privilege of remem- 
bering him in the breaking of bread on 
earth or not. But still he entreated, 
" Oh, sir, I think I might take the sac- 



WEDDED TO FORMS. 135 

rament now. I am sorry for all my 
past sins. I would like to repeat the 
service after you. It is quiet here 
just now, sir; or, if you please, I 
could be removed to the 'Orderly's' 
room. 

What a distressing case ! A man 
pleading for the sacrament, as he 
ought to be pleading for pardon through 
the blood of Christ — rejecting Jesus as 
his Saviour, refusing the offers of his 
salvation, and yet, asking for the bread 
and the wine, as though these could 
save him — a drowning man rejecting 
the hand of one who offers to save him, 
and trusting to the mere shadow of 
that deliverer ! So, the Jews still 
trusted to the lambs, which they of- 
fered, to take away their sins, and cru- 
cified Him whom those lambs were only 
intended to typify. This man, while 



136 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

neglecting the great salvation, would 
be content with merely this favour — 
if only in this formal manner, by a 
minister of the gospel he might be re- 
cognized as one worthy to be enrolled 
amongst the people of God. 

Yet another week he lingered on the 
shores of time, his spirit seeming to 
cling desperately to its clay tenement, 
and he lived till another Sabbath to 
renew the same request, but not, it 
was to be feared, to give any better 
evidence of repentance, love, and new 
obedience, with " knowledge to discern 
the Lord's body, and faith to feed upon 
him." 

How much harm may be done by 
receiving a person too hastily to the 
sealing ordinances of the church, if, 
thereby, he is encouraged to sup- 
pose that, in our judgment, he is 
a worthy partaker ! 



THE SERGEANT'S FAMILY. 137 

How difficult to bring a person to 
abandon an old hope, how poor soever 
that hope may be ! 

How utterly insufficient is a religion 
of mere forms, and how many souls are 
ruined, by being suffered to flatter 
themselves, that a decent observance 
of forms is all the religion that is re- 
quired ! 

THE SERGEANT'S FAMILY. 

The wife seemed a good, pious wo- 
man, and carefully trained her two 
little daughters, so far as she knew 
how, or had time, and was very grate- 
ful for any good instruction given 
them by others ; and it was surprising 
how prettily they behaved for children 
that were born in the army, and had 
lived nowhere but amongst soldiers. 
They were taught their Catechism, 
12* 



138 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

and hymns, and verses from the scrip- 
tures, and to say the creed and 
prayers. But their mother was a fee- 
ble woman. Frequent voyages, changes 
of climate, much work, and constant 
care were wearing her out, and, after 
awhile, she became unable to sit up, 
and lingered a patient sufferer, till her 
earthly house of this tabernacle was 
dissolved, and her spirit was set free. 

I visited her occasionally, and felt 
glad of any opportunity to speak com- 
fortably to one of God's people ; for I 
hoped she was a child of Grod. It is 
a privilege to be able to administer 
consolation, to encourage a pilgrim in 
his journey, to lift up one that is cast 
down, to help another to bear his bur- 
dens, to speak to one on a bed of lan- 
guishing of Him who can make all his 
bed in his sickness, who can make all 



THE SERGEANT'S FAMILY. 139 

things work together for good to them 
that love him, who can make our light 
afflictions which are but for a moment, 
to work for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory. 

In her sickness, she was the same 
uncomplaining person she had been in 
health ; and it was the life which she 
had led that gave me hope respecting 
her, rather than anything remarkable 
in her appearance during her sickness. 
She had no ecstasies, and not even 
strong confidence. She had only a 
trembling hope. She did not appear 
to have a very full or clear apprehen- 
sion of the plan of salvation ; yet it 
was apparent that she trusted in Jesus 
to save her; for he came into the 
world to save sinners, and she was a 
sinner — he came to seek and to save 
the lost, and she was lost, and felt that 



140 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Jesus was her only hope — he had in- 
vited those that labour and are heavy 
laden to come to him, and he would 
give them rest, and such was her case, 
and she had no doubt of the truth of 
Jesus' words, and that was the rest she 
desired, and she hoped to find that 
rest to her soul. And so her christian 
friends hoped. They thought of her 
in dying, as of one falling asleep in Je- 
sus — resting from her labours, and, as 
to her body, resting in hope until the 
resurrection. 

THINGS NOT IN KEEPING AT A FUNERAL. 

When I went to attend the remains 
to the grave, it was with solemn 
thoughts, and with the prayer that we 
might find it better to go to the house 
of mourning, than to the house of 
feasting ; and full of pity for the mo- 



THINGS — AT A FUNERAL. 141 

therless children, and with sympathy 
for the bereaved husband, for there 
was evidence of the sincerity and 
depth of his love for her who had been 
taken from him. 

But how was I shocked on opening 
the door of the house, and looking in ! 
for there were congregated all the ser- 
geants of that regiment, and many wo- 
men — not weeping like the widows 
who mourned for Dorcas — but with 
cheeks flushed with wine, and still 
passing more around the room, with 
comments upon its quality, and calling 
out for some of another kind, and for 
mulled wine, and the like. 

This sergeant was rather a promi- 
nent man amongst his peers. He was 
a senior in years and in service ; and 
having the charge of the officer's mess, 
he was expected to receive more per- 



142 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

quisites, and to be able to appear gen- 
erous. But what an accompaniment 
to a funeral ! u Such was the custom/ 7 
was the excuse. 

There are people who seem to be 
possessed with the idea that, according 
as they would be considered to hold in 
estimation the friends they have lost, 
so must be the liberality manifested 
in entertaining those who come to the 
burial. 

A custom prevails in some countries 
of feasting the friends and neighbours, 
who have come to bury the dead from 
the house, so that, while the funeral 
services are progressing, the kettles 
are boiling, and the ovens heating ; and 
while some of the company are gone to 
the grave, others must stay behind to 
lay the tables. We appreciate the de- 
sire, on the part of the afflicted, to ex- 



OP THE SERGEANT HIMSELF. 143 

hibit generosity and gratitude to those 
who have come to show kindness to 
them, and respect to their dead; but 
we have not much patience with those 
who encourage the practice, and evince 
more gratification at the table, than, 
sympathy at the grave. Such prac- 
tices are too near akin to the "wake" 
of the Catholic Irish. When, if not 
in time of such affliction, does the 
stricken family need to have quiet, and 
freedom from cares? Why should the 
house of mourning be changed so soon 
into the house of feasting? 

OF THE SERGEANT HIMSELF. 

He and his family were in the ship 
with us during a perilous voyage up 
the coast of China. He was, in some 
respects, a devout man, and meant to 
be religious : he was evidently anxious 



144 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

not to miss heaven ; and wished not to 
be surprised, and off his watch, when 
death should come. He was not able 
to attend many of the religious meet- 
ings, for he had charge of the officers 7 
mess, which kept him closely occupied 
at home, and this, on the Sabbath, as 
well as other days ; he was even more 
engaged on the Sabbath than any other 
day of the week, for on that day 
more company than usual were ex- 
pected. Whether he was compelled 
to take that berth or not, I don't know; 
but subordinates and privates in the 
army cannot always do as a well 
instructed conscience would dictate, 
and therefore, one would be inclined to 
think that a person after praying, 
■" Lead us not into temptation," could 
not consistently go and enter the army, 
except for some special emergency, and 



OF THE SERGEANT HIMSELF. 145 

in hopes that it might be for a short 
time. 

Our sergeant was not ashamed to 
avow his belief in the christian religion, 
and his respect for those who endea- 
voured to follow Christ, and his full 
persuasion that there was no way of 
salvation but that pointed out in the 
Bible. He had some fear of God be- 
fore his eyes, and was desirous that his 
family should have religious privileges, 
and that his children should be brought 
up in the fear of God ; and yet, like 
many others whom we meet, his ac- 
count of himself, as to faith and hope, 
was not so satisfactory as could be 
desired. He would not be able to 
give such an answer to them who 
might ask a reason for the hope that 
was in him, as we would like to hear ; 
and, indeed, when conversed with upon 

13 



146 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

this subject, he ever manifested more 
fear than hope. Meekness and fear 
were prominent when he was talking 
of himself: he appeared not to trust 
in himself at all, but only in the mercy 
of God, and merit of Christ. Humil- 
ity and sincerity were noticeable 
marks in his character. Always, when 
present at meeting, he was a model of 
a devout worshipper, and attentive 
hearer. 

An air of devotion accompanied his 
common expressions of civility, which 
in these days, and in this country, is 
almost unknown. No person would be 
long in his company without remarking 
his reverence for sacred things, and his 
recognition of God's providence. Never 
did he speak of anything as in his ar- 
rangements for the future, but it was 
accompanied by an " If the Lord will " — 



OF THE SERGEANT HIMSELF. 147 

* Please God, I will do so or so." He 
would never answer your inquiries 
after the health of his family, but he, 
at the same time, thanked the Lord for 
the good report he was able to give 
such as, "We are all well, thank God ;" 
and this not, as too many do, carelessly 
and almost profanely, but in a reveren- 
tial and hearty manner, which evinced 
that it was from the heart. 

It was pleasing, on one occasion, to 
witness his spirit and boldness in de- 
fending the account of the Dairyman's 
daughter. The infidel supercargo, and 
a loose-living young fellow, a passen- 
ger, were full of their flings at Chris- 
tianity, and quite glib in their denun- 
ciations of the religious sects; some- 
times charging them with manufac- 
turing stories about pious people, and 
happy death-beds, and the like ; all 



148 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

for the purpose of working upon the 
feelings of weak-minded people ; as, 
for instance, said they, that story of 
the Dairyman's daughter — that is all 
fiction — no such girl as that ever lived. 
The sergeant had been standing by, 
leaning his broad back against the bul- 
warks, and listening in silence till they 
had finished all they had to say about 
the Dairyman's daughter; then stepping 
a little forward and facing them, he 
said, " Beg your pardon, gentlemen, 
but I know something about that mat- 
ter myself. I am an Arreton man. I 
was born in the very parish where that 
young woman lived, who was Elizabeth 
Walbridge, the Dairyman's daughter. 
I have been to the church where she 
attended, and know the seat she sat in, 
and many and many is the time that I 
have visited her grave. I have more 



WHAT A LOSS TO LOSE A WIFE. 149 

than once read that tract you have 
been speaking of, and I know that it 
is true, and the facts related in it are 
common talk amongst the people of 
that neighbourhood. The account is 
true, gentlemen, and you cannot prove 
it false." 

His air and manner while saying 
this was that of a man who felt that 
not only had the authenticity of a 
favourite book been attacked, but that 
his religion had been assailed, and an 
insult offered to his God; and the 
scoffers quailed before him. No one 
who saw and heard him doubted that 
he averred the very things which he 
had seen and heard. 

WHAT A LOSS IS IT TO LOSE A WIFE. 

When the sergeant's wife was taken 
from him he seemed greatly cast 

13* 



150 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

down, and oppressed with grief and 
care. "What shall I do — how can I 
attend to these little girls?" he said. 
Often did he visit the grave, over which, 
at great expense, he placed a hand- 
some monument. Not long afterwards 
he was prostrated by a stroke of the sun, 
on a field day, on the parade ground. 
From this he did not fully recover, 
and his mind seemed not to be quite 
right ; and his accounts running a little 
into confusion, and having a great 
press of business crowding upon him 
in laying in provisions for a sea voy- 
age, for the mess of which he had 
charge, he went nearly distracted, and 
soon we were shocked by the report that 
he had attempted suicide. When his 
little girls awoke one Sabbath morning, 
they shrieked at the sight of their father 
lying on the floor in his own blood. 



woman's mission. 151 

He had tried to cut his throat, but had 
only severed, or partly severed, the 
windpipe. The surgeons took him in 
hand, and by his loss of blood, and 
rest in the hospital, he came to his 
right mind again. He appeared grieved 
and humbled for his folly and wicked- 
ness in attempting self-murder, and 
was thankful that his Maker and Pre- 
server did not permit him to finish it; 
and he prayed for forgiveness, and to 
be kept back from that, and all pre- 
sumptuous sins in future. 

woman's mission. 

I do not by any means expect to 
exhaust this subject, and tell what is 
the whole of woman's mission ; nor yet 
to give what might be termed a lecture 
on this theme, but merely to allude to 
a few things that women may do — 



152 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

just to hint at what the influence of 
woman is ; and I will simply tell you 
of some things which I noticed at Chu- 
san, and indeed which may be obser- 
ved everywhere, that a good wife, or 
a good sister, or a good mother is 
doing more good in the world than 
can be estimated, and they are doing 
it in a quiet, unobtrusive way. It is 
not woman's mission to face the 
cannon's mouth — to scale the walls of 
besieged towns — to clear up the fo- 
rests, or to break up the prairies — to 
mingle in the crowds at political gath- 
erings, nor to sit in legislative halls; 
but by her influence the men are 
better fitted to discharge their duties, 
whatever they may be. On their 
account, for various reasons which we 
will not now take time to mention, 
they have increased motives to be in- 



woman's mission. 153 

dustrious, sober, and virtuous; and by 
their influence numbers are kept from 
the many dangers and snares to which 
those are exposed who have not a 
home, and who are not under the re- 
straint, or do not enjoy the refining 
influences of virtuous female society. 
We noticed this amongst the troops. 
Those officers and soldiers that had 
their wives with them — wives that 
were what wives ought to be — were 
more " regular." 

In the army, the arrangement, I be- 
lieve, is that when a regiment is to be 
sent on foreign service, a limited num- 
ber of women may be taken along; 
the number will vary according to the 
nature of the service on which the 
army is sent. Sometimes it is one 
woman to a hundred men, and then 
the soldiers that have wives are per- 



154 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

mitted to draw lots, and he to whom 
the lot falls takes his wife with him, 
and all others must leave their wives 
behind. 

When in barracks, the men with 
families are permitted to have rooms 
by themselves, and the women are ex- 
pected to be ready to make themselves 
useful in the regiment; for their la- 
bour they are paid, and that pay is 
needed to provide them family com- 
forts. 

The men that had good wives — and 
it must be admitted that there were 
some wives that were not good, and 
oh, how repulsive an object, and how 
to be pitied is a bad woman ! — but the 
men that had good wives were gener- 
ally better men, more regular in their 
habits, more tidy in their appearance 
than some others : and the same was ob- 



woman's mission. 155 

servable in the case of those who had 
left virtuous wives in India, or in Eng- 
land. I think too it was to be observed 
that when men had lost their wives, 
where they themselves were not gov- 
erned by settled principles, and the 
fear of God, they began to decline 
somewhat in their habits and appear- 
ance. And what a blessing is it for 
a child to have a good mother ! And 
what a calamity to be born of a 
wicked mother ! These observations 
we have occasion to note everywhere, 
but the examples are perhaps more 
striking in the army. 

Indeed, the army does not seem to 
be a place for children at all ; yet if 
there will be children following their 
fathers to the camp and to the field, 
then, for the safety of their morals, 
and for the sake of their souls, may 
good mothers be sent with them. 



156 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

HER HUSBAND IS KNOWN IN THE GATES. 

Whoever might meet with, or have 
an opportunity to know much of pri- 
vate S , would, I fancy, find him- 
self soliloquizing thus, " I wonder if 
that man has not a good wife some- 
where ; he's always so clean and tidy 
— is not often to be found except 
where duty calls him; never amongst 
the loungers ; and perhaps she gov- 
erns him, but if so, it is only by the 
force of her love and gentleness, 
for he holds up his head and always 
seems happy." 

And whoever might see little Johnny 
would know that he had one of the 
"best of mothers," for see, he is a 
little gentleman — how clean ! how 
happy ! how nicely he answers your 
questions ! Never rude, playing con- 



HER HUSBAND KNOWN IN GATES. 157 

tentedly by himself; never found in 
the crowd ; never seen with those 
swearing, fighting boys. And when 
he conducts you into the house where 
his mother is busy at her work, you 
see how he loves her, and how she 
loves him. How quickly and cheer- 
fully he does whatever, by look or 
word, she intimates that she would 
wish to have done ! 

As yet his mother has been able to 
teach him, and he has not been sent 
to the army school-master. And we 
are pleased with the appearance of Mrs. 

S , and wonder why providence 

should have caused her lot to fall in 
the midst of such scenes. We wonder 
why a woman worthy of a better lot, 
(as in our haste we are apt to say,) 
and who can find so little in the scenes 
amid which she has to live in sympa- 
14 



158 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

thy with her feelings and taste, should 
have to bring up her little boy amid 
so many of the worst temptations that 
we can think of. But at the same 
time we are glad of every good exam- 
ple. We are thankful for every can- 
dle on its candlestick dispensing its 
light 5 for every city set on a hill ; any 
salt that has not lost its savour, and 
that may help to keep the mass from 
entire corruption. 

But about Mrs. S . We were 

hoping to find her a decided christian, 
and enjoying the comforts of the chris- 
tian's hope. But while in all things 
her life was exemplary, while she 
loved to read and hear the scriptures, 
and loved to pray, and carefully in- 
structed her child, and seemed to have 
but one wish concerning him, which 
was that he might be brought up in the 



HER HUSBAND KNOWN IN GATES. 159 

nurture and admonition of the Lord ; 
yet she had no hope for herself, and 
remained like one who is seeking 
Christ sorrowing. I occasionally lent 
her a book such as I thought might be 
profitable, and conversed with her as 
well as I knew how. 

It seemed to me that she was fol- 
lowing Christ, and if so, I wished she 
might have all the comfort such a hope 
might yield. I did not, however, tell 
her my impressions, but trusted that 
if, indeed, as one labouring and heavy 
laden, she had come to Christ, he 
would give rest to her soul — would re- 
veal himself to her, and cause his love 
to be shed abroad in her heart — all in 
his own good time. 

Soon after my acquaintance began 
in that quiet little family, the wife and 
mother was taken down with a linger- 



160 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ing, wasting disease. I called upon 
her many times. She was very grate- 
ful for such calls, and no one could be 
more attentive to religious instruction. 
She seemed to drink in the word of 
God, to be hungering and thirsting 
after righteousness, and appeared to 
regard it a great privilege to unite with 
another in prayer. Still, however, she 
expected better evidence before she 
would presume to hope that she was 
reconciled to God. She did not re- 
member any particular time when she 
had experienced a change worthy to 
be called regeneration, for that she 
thought must be a very great change. 
It seemed to her that for a person to 
think himself a christian, he must be a 
great deal better than she felt herself 
to be. The strictness of the law, the 
holiness of God, and the Bible stan- 



HER HUSBAND KNOWN IN GATES. 161 

dard of christian duty seemed to her 
very high — while she was constantly 
transgressing some commandment, and 
coming short in her endeavours to do 
right. How could a person with so 
many foolish and wicked thoughts all 
the time in his mind, have a renewed 
heart within him ? Then we spoke 
to her of Paul's experience, who found 
a law in his members warring against 
the law of his mind, and that when he 
would do good, evil was present with 
him. We reminded her that Christ is 
to be our righteousness, that as our 
sins are laid on him, so is his righteous- 
ness laid on us, and so we are complete 
in him. In ourselves, we are, indeed, 
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
blind, and naked ; but he becomes unto 
us wisdom, and righteousness, and 
sanctification, and redemption. 
u * 






162 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

The very thing we need is to feel 
our wretchedness and poverty, and ap- 
ply to Christ to supply all we lack ; 
and we lack everything. 

We conversed occasionally of the 
marks of the child of God, of his 
hopes and fears, joys and sorrows. 
She was told, however, that it is not 
necessary for a person always to be 
vexing himself with the question, whe- 
ther or not he is converted, but to 
come to Jesus at once, and we may be 
sure that if we do come to him he will 
not cast us off. If we confess our sins, 
God is faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness. Christ invites the la- 
bouring and heavy laden to come to 
him for rest, and they need not wait 
for fitness, but come as they are ; for 
not the righteous, but sinners it was 



HER HUSBAND KNOWN IN GATES. 163 

that Jesus came to call. And we have 
to come to Jesus every day, and all 
the time ; the faith at first required in 
coming to him, we need to have in con- 
stant exercise to keep us near him. 
We need not only to be born again by 
faith, but every day we must be living 
the life of faith. 

She said that sometimes she thought 
she did try to do all this ; but, she 
said, she was very ignorant, and feared 
she never would be able to understand 
much about these things which belong 
to the kingdom of God. 

It was pretty evident that, like 
Mary, she did love to sit where she 
might hear the words of Jesus ; but, 
as yet, there was nothing that seemed 
to say to her that, like Mary, she had 
chosen that good part that might not be 
taken away from her : but, as to being 



164 SCENES IN CHUSAN- 

careful and troubled about many things, 
she thought she was not ; though for 
her husband and for her Johnny she 
allowed that she had some anxiety ; 
for, when she should be here no more, 
who would take the care of them that 
she had done ? Would her dear child 
be trained in the love and service of 
God ? Oh, it was so dreadful for her 
to think that he might forget all her 
instructions, and learn to curse and 
swear, and keep company with scoffers! 
She would be glad to live that she 
might take care of her family, and do 
some little good, perhaps, for others, 
and be better prepared herself to 
die; but yet she hoped she might not 
complain, for God did all things right, 
and he had always been so good to her 
— she had so many mercies, so many 
good things, so many comforts, that 



HER HUSBAND KNOWN IN GATES. 165 

many another woman in the barracks 
did not have. 

She continued much in the state of 
mind of which I have spoken until she 
was borne on board a vessel bound to 
India ; though, as her health declined, 
there did seem to be some faint dawn- 
ing of light in her soul. She was 
asked, if, in view of death she could 
not say, " Lord, into thy hand I com- 
mend my spirit." She thought she 
could ; she thought she did. . She was 
told that that was all we could do, and 
all we need to do ; that the christian 
can do no more. The thief on the 
cross could only say, " Lord, remember 
me when thou comest into thy king- 
dom." 

She was asked, if she did not like 
to think of God as a Father, and if she 
did not wish to be his child. 



166 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

She answered, that she could truly 
say she did; and said, moreover, that 
there was comfort in the thought that 
there could be such a relation, and felt 
thankful that we were taught when we 
pray to say, " Our Father which art in 
heaven," and if she could only feel 
that she was a child of G od she would 
be so happy. 

An inquiry then was suggested whe- 
ther there might not be in that desire 
something of the spirit of adoption, 
which God sends into the hearts of 
his people teaching them to cry, Abba, 
Father. 

I may be right, or I may be wrong; 
but I have been accustomed to think 
of her as one whose transgression is 
hid, whose sin is covered. She seemed 
desirous to forsake all and follow 
Christ. 



MRS. c . 167 

She died at sea, I think, and though 
her body was laid down in the dark 
and silent chambers of the ocean, yet 
I have a hope for her that her dust is 
precious to Christ, and that when the 
sea gives up its dead, she will have 
part with those who shall be taken up 
to be for ever with the Lord. 



MRS. o 



Was so clean and industrious, so 
kind and obliging, and so ready at all 
kinds of work, and a truly pious 
woman withal, that a great many 
ladies tried to procure her services. 
Some sent for her to come and live for 
awhile in their families with the pro- 
mise of liberal wages. But she was a 
good wife too: too good a wife to 
allow her home — her little room — to 
be for even one night without the 



168 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

attractions which her industry and 
cleanliness, and her own smiles and 
kind words could give it. She was 
not willing that her husband should, 
even for one evening, have an excuse 
or temptation to seek entertainment 
elsewhere than at home. How well 
would it be if all wives were like this 
one, whose study was to make home at- 
tractive! Then would there be fewer 
husbands and sons disposed to look for 
entertainment in taverns, and saloons, 
and at theatres and kindred places. 

It was an old Buddhist temple that 
was occupied as quarters by some of 
the married people; and though pic- 
turesque, and neatly kept while they 
were used as temples, now they were 
much mutilated and fast going to 
decay, and the quarters of some of the 
women were desolate and cheerless 



MRS. c . 169 

enough; and the inmates in some 
cases would attempt to excuse the 
untidy appearance of their habitations 
by saying, "It's such an old, dirty 
place, sir — there's little to encourage 
one to try and fix up, and it's for so 
short a time too, one doesn't feel like 
going to much expense to get things 
to look respectable." But just along- 
side of those who thus excused them- 
selves was the room of Mrs. C , 

clean, wholesome, and cheerful; con- 
taining, it is true, but few articles of 
furniture; but these tastefully ar- 
ranged, and all appeared as if the 
inmates might be happy. The Bible 
and hymn book occupied a convenient 
place, and gave evidence of being 
kept, not for ornament, but for use. 

It was in this room that the last 
season of prayer with the little band 

15 



170 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

of praying soldiers and the pious 
women was held, just before their em- 
barkation for another country, and for 
other scenes of duty and of suffering. 
It was with them a time of weeping. 
There is sorrow when christians have 
to part, but those sorrows are min- 
gled with joy in the hope of meeting 
again. 

THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. 

"Rejoice with those that do rejoice, 
and weep with those that weep." It 
was pleasing to witness how promptly, 
and as if by a new instinct, the chris- 
tian soldiers were wont to practise 
what is enjoined in these words. 

A young man, a member of the 
band, whose uniform was a buff coat 
and pants, with scarlet trimmings and 
with some polished brass, was a regu- 



THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. 171 

lar attendant at all the meetings. He 
usually, when present, led the singing ; 
a young man of a pleasant, honest 
face, and meek and quiet in his man- 
ners. 

We had learned that he had a wife 
at Hong Kong, who, when his company 
was sent north, was left there because 
there were not accommodations in the 
ship for any but the men. 

But by and by there was a report 
that a vessel with recruits and with re- 
stored invalid soldiers, and the women 
left behind, was coming up, and that 
the musician's wife was of the num- 
ber ; and our soldiers talked with each 
other about it as " good news." " And 
did you hear," they would say, " did 

you hear that R 's wife is coming?" 

The husband's joy was apparent in 
his face, and in his lighter step ; and 



172 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

all were glad for him, and wished him 
much happiness in the prospect of a 
speedy reunion. The south-west mon- 
soon soon brought the expected ship 
among the islands; eager eyes de- 
scried her from the hill-tops; on a 
flowing tide she rode into the harbour. 
There were appointed officers to board 
her even before she came to anchor, 
and our friend was soon quite happy, 
for he heard that his wife was indeed 
on board ; and soon he had her con- 
veyed ashore. But, poor fellow ! his 
rejoicing was to be short. His great 
joy was to be succeeded by a greater 
sorrow. The rumour of his wife's dis- 
honour followed her ashore; even her 
seducer published it, and taunted the 
injured husband with it. What a brute ! 
worse than a brute ! But amongst 
such loathsome creatures must all 



THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. 173 

those dwell eternally who fail of ad- 
mittance into heaven. See Rev. xxii. 
15. The seducer of the wife taunted 
the injured husband, and he had no 
means of resenting or repelling the 
insult, or of punishing the crime, ex- 
cept such as a christian would not re- 
sort to. 

And now again we saw how when 
one member suffers all the members 
suffer with it. How apparent, and how 
touching was the sympathy of those 
christian brethren ! Their brother's 
affliction was an affliction to them ; the 
sorrow he felt, they, in some measure, 
felt with him. They felt for him be- 
cause of the disgrace which had come 
upon him in consequence of the shame- 
ful conduct of his wife ; they sympa- 
thized w 7 ith him in the shock which 
his heart had felt. As far as possible 

15* 



174 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

they would place themselves between 
him and the brutal fellows who made 
sport of his affliction. 

How to be pitied was this young man ! 
He must continue to live with that 
woman who had forsaken him for 
strangers, and he must still hear her 
called his wife, though she had com- 
mitted that crime which the scriptures 
make sufficient ground for separation. 
He would, for a while at least, have 
to endure the evil ; for in the army, 
and on foreign service, many things 
are managed differently from what 
they are where appeal may be had to 
the civil courts. 

But he did not neglect religious 
duties, nothing like these troubles 
could keep him from mingling with 
his brethren in the worship of God; he 
seemed glad of such a refuge and rest 



THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. 175 

for his stricken spirit. How sorrow- 
ful he seemed ! how pale and sunken 
those cheeks, usually so fresh and full ! 
Still he sung for us, but with a voice 
which betrayed the sadness of the 
heart. There was, however, an ex- 
pression of calm and christian resig- 
nation; a something which seemed to 
say, "It is the Lord, let him do as 
seemeth him good." 

He did not speak to me of his trou- 
bles, nor did I think it best just then 
to speak to him of them; yet it was 
practicable and proper so to shape 
some parts of the religious services, 
and select such portions of the word 
of God that such a smitten one as he 
might receive some drops of the balm 
of Gilead — might hear of Him who 
wounds that he may heal — of him 
who is the refuge of his saints. 



176 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

Oh, how hateful and loathsome is 
the sin which that unfaithful wife com- 
mitted ! What wretchedness she caused 
others, and what injury she brought 
to her own soul! How was joy turned 
to weeping, and sweetness to gall and 
wormwood ! 

See, then, and remember how im- 
portant is that commandment which 
"forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, 
and actions." 

When we see human nature thus, 
and in other abominable ways devel- 
oping itself — laying bare some marks 
of its total depravity — showing what 
works it delights in; when we see or 
hear of human beings who are past 
feeling, and have given themselves 
over to lasciviousness, and to work un- 
cleanness, we may almost be ready to 
deny that we have any part of that 



THE SERGEANT AND THE CORPORAL. 177 

nature. But to our shame we must 
own that by nature our hearts are as 
vile as those of any people, and should 
God at any time withdraw his re- 
straining grace, we would become as 
sensual and devilish as the worst. 
Therefore how earnestly should we 
pray to be kept back from presump- 
tuous sins ! How should we pray 
God not to take his Holy Spirit from 
us, but to create in us a clean heart, 
and to renew a right spirit within us ! 
This poor woman was a victim of 
the cholera in India soon after their 
arrival there. 



SERGEANT R , AND CORPORAL C- 



These were artillerymen, in the ser- 
vice of the East India company — men 
in middle life, and never, to my know- 
ledge, on the sick list. As intimated 



178 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

before, it was the intemperate that 
were most frequently under the sur- 
geon's and apothecary's care. 

Corporal C was lively, always 

in good spirits, communicative, and 
when he could not think of one thing 
he could of another; not obtrusive, by 
any means, but he took a pleasure in 
relating what he had seen, presuming 
that all other people were as much in- 
terested in hearing, as he in telling ; 
and though he was apparently uncon- 
scious of possessing any uncommon 
powers of description, yet he would 
lead one on with him amidst all the 
wild scenes through which he had 
passed, and his auditors with himself 
saw, heard, and felt over again what 
had taken place in the months and 
years gone by. 

Sergeant R was no less good 



THE SERGEANT AND THE CORPORAL. 179 

natured, and no less fond of company 
than C ; yet, I think, he was some- 
what more particular in the choice of 
his companions, and regarded his com- 
rade as a little too much given to talk- 
ing, and not always quite so serious as 
he ought to be. 

R seldom undertook a descrip- 
tion ; his tongue could not get loose ; 
and his references to the past were by 

brief allusions. C lived much in 

the past, R , more in the present ; 

while C also enjoyed the present, 

and was hopeful as to the future. 

I seem just now to see these men 
walking together in their blue uniform, 
white belts, the red stripes down the 
outside of their pants, moving exactly 
together, their heels striking the pave- 
ment precisely at the same instant. 
But, unlike many soldiers, they were 



180 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

not absolutely as upright as a palm 

tree, for, while R had seemingly 

a slight inclination backward, C ■ 

had about the same pitch forward, and 
so they were pretty well matched after 
all ; for the ardour and impulsiveness 
of the one was steadied by the mode- 
ration of the other ; the preciseness 
of one was set off by the ease of the 
other. One was conservative, the other 
sanguine; one gave you his sober 
second thought, the other thought 
quick and spoke quick. 

Both these men were converted in 
India, through the instrumentality of 
christian missionaries there, and they 
took a lively interest in the missionary 
work, and read with a relish the mis- 
sionary periodicals, and were accus- 
tomed to say that it became them to 
favour that cause, and to bless the 



THE SERGEANT AND THE CORPORAL. 181 

Lord for having sent missionaries to 
India; else what would have become 
of them ? They seemed fond of talk- 
ing of the influence of the gospel in 
India, of what they had witnessed of 
its power upon the natives of India, of 
the change wrought in many of them, 
and of the influence which was flowing 
out from the mission schools. 

You may therefore think of these 
two men as some of the fruits of the 
incidental labours of christian mission- 
aries in India. When you sit down to 
count up the results of foreign missions, 
you may reckon up many other things 
besides those that are recorded in the 
regular and strictly missionary reports. 
And let those who are in that work 
still go on sowing beside all waters. 

Both R and C were mar- 
ried men; their wives were Anglo-In- 

16 



182 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

dians, and still in India. They were 
faithful husbands, and it was gratifying 
to hear now and then of their procu- 
ring presents to send to their wives, or 
carry to them on their return. 

It was edifying to join with these 
men in social prayer ; and in social in- 
tercourse, it was both interesting and 
profitable to hear from them some ac- 
count of their christian warfare. 

II lamented his exposure to so 

much temptation, and his having to 
live where he must continually see so 
much wickedness going on. He had 
no taste for the work of war, and he 
wished to be in circumstances where 
he would not be constrained to do 
what conscience condemned. He was 
looking anxiously forward to the period 
when he should get his discharge, and 
retire to other and quieter pursuits, 



THE SERGEANT AND THE CORPORAL 183 

and when there would be less to inter- 
rupt his meditations on religious sub- 
jects. But C seemed not to have 

had a thought that he was not enjoying 
religion then, and where he was, as 
well as he could at any other time or 
anywhere. True, there were many 
things he could wish were different, 
but ought we not to be content with 
such things as we have? Matters 
might be worse with us than they are, 
he would argue. He had his Bible, he 
said, and much quiet time to read it. 
If in the barracks, when he had got 
out his book some noisy fellows should 
begin playing cards close beside him, 
why he could soon get away from 
them and take refuge under the wall 
of the fort, or make a gun carriage his 
seat ; or he could pick up a compan- 
ion and be away for a walk, and they 



184 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

two together could talk of what they 
had enjoyed, and of what they hoped 
hereafter to enjoy; and in some secluded 
spot they could kneel and pray ; and 
those were precious seasons, when 
they had joys which the world knew 
not of. Such a man was C , stri- 
ving to serve God everywhere, and to 
make the best of his circumstances ; 
and when the bugle sounded "boot 
and saddle," no man was quicker in his 

place than C , or more wide awake 

to do his duty : wherever he might be 
placed, it should not be said that he 
was either afraid or indifferent. 

THE TWO FRIENDS. 

S and P , were two young 

men of a regiment of infantry, and 
generally seen together, when they 
could obtain liberty at the same time. 



THE TWO FRIENDS. 185 

One was somewhat taller than the 
other, and when they walked in com- 
pany it was after the manner of sol- 
diers on a forced march, with bodies 
pitching forward, as though they had 
but a limited time to get to a certain 
place and back again before the beat 
of the drum. 

Their parents were members of the 
Baptist church in England, and they 
favoured that denomination. They 
were faithful men, and exemplary in 
every respect. It was worth some- 
thing to observe how firmly they re- 
sisted temptation ; how, like a flint 
their faces were set, and how steadily 
they journeyed Zionward; how harm- 
lessly the fiery darts of the adversary 
fell upon them, for they were clad with 
the christian warrior's panoply. 

They were young men, and unmar- 

16* 



186 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

ried, and at the age when many excuse 
themselves from giving attention to the 
things which relate to the kingdom of 
heaven, by the plea that youth is the 
time forenjoyment^: that is, for worldly 
pleasures. But these young men 
professed to find more enjoyment in 
religion than they had ever found in 
all the pleasures of the world, whether 
in scenes of gaiety, in the wild sports 
of boys, in any sensual gratifications, 
or exciting games or exercises. And 
why should they profess this unless 
they felt it? 

Why should they adopt the chris- 
tian profession in the face of serious 
opposition, unless they felt it both a 
privilege and a duty? Why should 
they persevere in their attendance 
upon religious exercises, unless they 
found some delight in them ? 



THE TWO FRIENDS. 187 

If they still loved sport and worldly 
amusements, the way was open for them 
to engage in them equally as for others, 
and the popular current flowed in that 
way, and the chief study of many of 
the officers and men seemed to be 
the invention of new pleasures, and 
pastimes ; there were horse races and 
boat races, theatres, billiard tables, 
sham fights ; and Chinese rope-dancers, 
and players were employed to afford 
diversion to those whose time was 
hanging heavily on their hands ; and 
if our young friends still had a relish 
for these things, why did they so uni- 
formly turn away from them as from 
that which is distasteful ? 

Why should they choose to be singu- 
lar, and expose themselves to unnum- 
bered petty persecutions ? To be a 
meeting-goer, and to pray and sing 



188 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

psalms was, in the slang phrase of the 
army, to be a methodist ; and to be a 
methodist was to be everything that 
was spiritless and contemptible. The 
pious soldier had to bear many annoy- 
ances, and such opposition as people 
living in a christian land, and in the 
midst of a church-going community, 
know very little about. 

We do not say, however, that all 
persons, that may for a time pursue the 
course which these persons did, are 
necessarily renewed in heart. But 
where they give evidence of really 
loving religious duties, and of loving 
them more and more, and continuing 
on and on in the way of holiness, and 
are endeavouring more and more to re- 
nounce all ungodliness and every world- 
ly lust, and to live soberly and right- 
eously and godly in this present world, 



THE TWO FRIENDS. 189 

we are encouraged to hope that they 
have been born again. Often have I 
asked myself, what was there in that 
little prayer-meeting, the exercises of 
which consisted in reading the scrip- 
tures, with a short lecture or exhorta- 
tion, prayer and singing; and this 
in a quiet room in a retired situation, 
and unaccompanied with noise and nov- 
elties which attract many — what was 
there in those meetings that those 
young men should walk one and a half 
miles on a rainy night, or on a sultry 
summer evening, and often when they 
had barely time to get to the place, sit 
the meeting through, and get back 
again in season to answer to the roll- 
call in the barracks ; and this sometimes 
after the labours of a field day, or 
other fatiguing exercise, while others 
resorted to the Canteen to sip beer and 
tell stories ? 



190 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

There must have been for them some 
enjoyment to be had at those meetings 
which others could not find there. 
They found in religious worship plea- 
sures which the worldling knows 
nothing of. They had meat to eat of 
which the world did not know. There 
must have been some inner life in 
them which demanded, and which fed 
upon such spiritual food — which hun- 
gered and thirsted after righteousness 
— which found the word of God sweet 
to its taste — which found congenial 
society with those who talked of Christ 
and his doctrines, of the church and 
the character and duties of its mem- 
bers, of heaven and its glories; else, 
how was it they continued to study 
the Bible, and with an increasing 
relish? how did they come to have a 
taste for such writings as those of 



THE LAST TTME. 191 

Doddridge and Baxter, and works on 
religious experience, on keeping the 
heart, and biographies of pious people, 
while others disliked all these things — 
preferring the beer pot and the pipe 
and a jovial companion to praying and 
psalm-singing — preferring newspapers, 
criminal calendars, turf registers, sto- 
ries or travels to religious reading ? 

He that is of the earth is earthly — 
the carnal heart will seek carnal en- 
joyment; but he that is born from 
above will be seeking those things 
which are above. He that is born of 
God, in proportion as he advances 
in holiness, will more and more 
find pleasure in the things which are 
heavenly. 

THE LAST TIME. 

As the period which had been fixed 



192 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

upon for vacating the island drew 
near, the pious soldiers seemed more 
intent on improving the religious pri- 
vileges which were now within their 
reach; they appeared more greedy (if 
I may speak thus) for religious in- 
struction, giving the closest attention 
to preaching, and seeking opportu- 
nities for private conversation. A 
few began to attend the prayer meet- 
ings who had hitherto not been pre- 
sent ; among these was a young man, 
indeed he was but a stripling in his 
appearance, with fair hair, and a 
beardless face. He had been brought 
out in the last draft of recruits. From 
the first he was attentive, and grew 
more and more interested in religious 
subjects, till at length he was unable 
to conceal his distress, for unbidden 
tears would reveal his emotion; and 



THE LAST TIME. 193 

at times when he tarried for private 
conversation, after others had with- 
drawn, his distress was uncontrollable. 
He had begun to fear that God could 
not forgive him, for he was so great a 
sinner, and the more he prayed for 
pardon, and sought for a reconciliation 
with God, the more did former sins 
and present wickedness rise up before 
him, and he feared that he must be lost. 
He felt that he deserved to be sent to 
hell, and he had so long persisted in 
the ways of transgression, and put off 
repentance so many times, that now it 
seemed that God would leave him to 
perish ; and he was the more led to 
think so, because for some time he had 
been trying, as he thought, to obtain 
peace by confessing his sins, and im- 
ploring forgiveness, and God would not 
be gracious ; so that he feared that that 
17 



194 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

scripture was fulfilled in his case which 
says, " Because I have called and ye 
refused, * * * I also will laugh at 
your calamity ; * * * then shall they 
call upon me, but I will not answer." 
He was afraid he had sinned too long, 
and too grievously, and so many times 
had turned away his ears when he had 
heard invitations and warnings, so 
that now when he called, God would 
not hear him. 

Some passages of scripture were re- 
peated, or pointed out to him, in which 
God assures us that he is plenteous in 
mercy ; that there is forgiveness with 
him ; that if we confess our sins, he is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
ness. We laboured to convince him 
of the pity of God for the sinner, that 
because he loved us he provided a way 



THE LAST TIME. 195 

of salvation, and that there is plente- 
ous redemption, that the chief of sin- 
ners need not fear, that Christ is able 
and willing to save to the uttermost all 
that come unto God by him. But he 
continued on in nearly the same state 
of mind for several weeks, searching 
the scriptures, reading religious books 
that, if possible, he might get some 
more knowledge as to how he might 
find the way of life, and attending all 
the meetings. He avoided the com- 
pany of the ungodly, and kept with 
the pious people as much as it was 
possible, and seemed to say, like Ruth 
to her mother-in-law, " Thy people 
shall be my people, and thy God my 
God." Still he continued seeking sal- 
vation — still feeling his sins a burden 
— still labouring and heavy laden, and, 
as he thought, striving to come, or to 



196 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

learn how he might be able to come, to 
Christ, that he might find rest to his 
soul. 

He remained in this state of mind, 
still striving, or begging to be told how 
he should strive, to enter in at the 
strait gate, on till the day previous to 
that fixed upon as the day for the em- 
barkation, when he suddenly appeared 
in my study. 

It was in the middle of the after- 
noon ; the perspiration was streaming 
down his face, for the day was hot : 
his eyes were red with weeping, and 
as soon as he entered the room he be- 
gan, sobbing — he could not help it — 
and it was some time ere he could 
speak. But, by and by, he began by 
telling how he had been troubled, and 
he found his uneasiness and anxiety 
increasing as the time of their stay 



THE LAST TIME. 197 

here grew shorter. In the place to 
which they were going there might not 
be any such religious privileges, as he 
had now, and he felt more and more, 
his need of an instructer in religious 
matters. They were, moreover, to 
proceed immediately to the seat of 
war, to go into action, and he was as 
likely to be killed as any other man ; 
or the cholera might seize him, or in- 
deed he might die at any time; and 
he was not prepared to die. And 
there were other matters pressing on 
his mind, and he had longed for an- 
other interview with me, and, though 
the men were all on duty, he had ob- 
tained leave for a short absence. And 
as he was hurrying up — almost run- 
ning — he had met the Brigadier at the 
city gate, who stopped him with, 
" Hold, there ! where now ?" to which 
17* 



198 SCENES IN CHUSAtf. 

he answered, " I have leave, sir — I am 
just going to see the minister." "Go- 
ing to see the minister, eh ? Well, my 
lad, improve your opportunit) r — make 
the most of this visit, for it's your last 
chance — it's the last time, my boy." 
u And oh, sir !" said the young soldier, 
" oh, sir ! I can't help thinking of 
that. It is, indeed I know it is the 
last time that I may come here for in- 
struction ; but what the Brigadier said, 
made me fear too that may-be this is 
the last opportunity I can have to pre- 
pare to die ; and his words that he 
spake, as I met him at the gate, kept 
ringing in my ears, and sir — oh, sir ! 
I wish I could know what I ought to 
do to be saved !" 

I took up those words which had 
startled him, and which the Spirit 
seemed to have shot like an arrow into 



THE LAST TIME. 199 

his heart. I endeavoured to impress 
upon him the importance of that very 
moment, that then was the accepted 
time, and the day of salvation. I 
urged him to submit to God. To say 
to Jesus, Lord, save me or I perish — to 
give up trying to save himself and 
trust in Jesus to save him, which he 
alone could do, and which he was 
willing to do, and that just now ; and 
this, he was told, was his duty whether 
he was to stay where he was, or go to 
India — whether he was to live yet for 
fifty years, or die to-morrow. 

He said, he knew that ; he had been 
told that many times, but yet he did 
not see as he was getting any nearer to 
being a christian than ever he was, and 
he had begun to think that may-be 
there was some particular thing in the 
way ; and there was one thing he had 



200 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

been thinking about, and respecting 
which he had been for many days want- 
ing to ask me, and it was this, whether 
it might not be his being a soldier that 
hindered his getting in at the strait 
gate ? 

He had thought that may-be God 
was so displeased with his enlisting 
that he would never forgive him. 
" And, sir," said he, " another matter has 
troubled me. Suppose I go into action, 
and my shot kills a man, or many men 
— that is sending men into eternity, 
and men who are as unprepared to die 
as I am. Oh, it makes me feel bad — 
it distresses me, sir. I never thought 
of these things much before I enlisted, 
and now I think of them when it is too 
late. How I wish I had kept clear of 
the army ! I would like, sir, to have 
you tell me what you think j can a 



THE LAST TIME. 201 

soldier be a christian, and can a chris- 
tian go into battle, and kill his fellow 
men, and be a good christian still ?" 

I was sorry to have that subject 
introduced, and to be asked such 
questions just then, for it was rather 
a large subject, and he had but a few 
minutes longer to stay, and besides it 
looked like a diversion of his thoughts 
from that on which his mind was so 
intensely exercised when he first came 
in; however, I turned to Luke iii. 14, 
and there showed him John's answer 
to the soldiers when they demanded 
of him, saying, "And what shall we 
do ? And he said unto them, Do 
violence to no man, neither accuse any 
falsely ; and be content with your 
wages." It appears, then, I said, that 
John did not direct them to leave the 
army, but to acquit themselves faith- 



202 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

fully to their masters, to be conscien- 
tious in the discharge of every duty 
in the place and circumstances in 
which providence had cast their lot 
for the present. I mentioned the case 
of Cornelius, a captain in the Roman 
army, who was converted, and by one 
of the apostles was baptized and re- 
ceived to the church, and we have no 
intimation that any objection was 
raised on the ground of his being in 
the army. As for myself, I said, I 
should never choose a military life, and 
would not wish any of my friends, in 
ordinary times, to enter the army ; or 
if I had friends in the army, I should 
wish them to leave it as soon as they 
might do so honourably. There have 
been times, and there may be again, 
when christian men were or may be 
called to take up arms for the preser- 



THE LAST TIME. 203 

vation of their liberties, civil or reli- 
gious ; but just now he need not trou- 
ble himself with any of these ques- 
tions, for here he was ; he was a sol- 
dier, and it was out of his power for 
the present to alter his condition ; he 
was a soldier, and it was better to be a 
good soldier than a bad soldier ; and 
as a soldier it was better to be a good 
man than a bad man ; being a soldier 
need not make him a bad man; being 
a soldier need not hinder him from 
being an eminently godly man. There 
have been good soldiers; there are 
such now. Soldiers have been con- 
verted, and he might be. Some of the 
most exemplary christians that I have 
ever known perhaps, I have found in 
the army, and so could he while in the 
army, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
and the diligent use of every means 



204 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

of grace lead a life of eminent godli- 
ness. Wherever he might be, it was 
his duty at once to become reconciled 
to God ; and at the same time it was 
his duty to acquit himself faithfully 
in whatever situation providence had 
cast his lot ; but as soon as a way 
might be opened for him to get an hon- 
ourable discharge he might improve it. 
The mere fact of his being a soldier 
was not in the way of his becoming a 
follower of Christ ; that was no reason 
why he should fear that God could not 
forgive him. But let us now, said I, 
think again of what we first began 
talking about, that now is the ac- 
cepted time, that now God command- 
eth all men everywhere to repent. 
Think that this may indeed be your 
last time — this may be the last call of 
God — the Spirit may be striving with 



THE LAST TIME. 205 

you for the last time. So long as you 
remain away from Christ and without 
rest to your soul, there is something in 
the way on your own part; it may 
not be your being in the army, but it 
may be some sin you are clinging to, 
or covering up, or you are depending 
on some goodness of your own. You 
must confess all your sins, and forsake 
them, and trust wholly in the merit 
and intercession of Christ. Say, u God 
be merciful to me a sinner" — look to 
the Lamb of God to take away your 
sins — say, " Lord, I believe, help thou 
my unbelief" — " Lord, to whom shall 
I go but unto thee? thou hast the 
words of eternal life." 

But his time was up, and I might 
not detain him longer. We kneeled 
in prayer. It was a solemn season : 
he felt it so. His distress all returned 

18 



206 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

upon him. We arose. He reached 
one hand for his cap, and gave the 
other in saying farewell. It was a 
tearful parting, but I was not without 
hope that there might be a joyful 
meeting by and by. He was candid, 
and apparently determined to seek 
till he should find, to knock till it 
should be opened to him. It seemed 
that the Spirit was leading him; and 
there was reason to hope that he 
might be brought into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God: and 
when I entreated him finally not to 
distrust God, but to believe that he 
was still standing with open arms to 
receive every prodigal that will return 
to him, he seemed to believe it, and to 
feel a pleasure in believing it; and 
though his face was wet with tears, 
there seemed, as it were, some rays of 



THE LAST TIME. 207 

hope enkindling in his eyes and play- 
ing about his lips, like the golden 
beams of the sun breaking through 
the clouds, and gilding the rain drops. 
It was not an uncommon thing for 
the pious soldiers to think about their 
occupation, and wonder if the army 
was the proper place for a christian. 
One young man particularly used to tell 
his thoughts, and once repeated what 
he had heard that Wellington was re- 
ported to have said, "that a man with 
nice religious scruples has no business 
in the army." But whether Wellington 
had said that or not, this young man, in 
common with many others, often found 
himself placed in circumstances, and 
ordered on duties, which, had he been 
his own master, he could not have ap- 
proved : and it was a comfort to me 
that I could be able to find a definite 



208 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

and a scriptural answer for such trou- 
bled consciences, such as that already 
quoted from Luke, and another from 
1 Cor. vii. 20 — 24, which will do for 
other relations besides that of the ser- 
vant. "Let every man abide in the 
same calling wherein he was called. 
Art thou called being a servant? care 
not for it; but if thou mayest be 
free, use it rather. For he that is 
called in the Lord, being a servant, is 
the Lord's freeman: likewise also he 
that is called, being free, is Christ's 
servant. Ye are bought with a price; 
be ye not the servants of men. Breth- 
ren, let every man wherein he is called 
therein abide with God." If the soldier 
can obtain a release honourably, let him 
do it; but for the present it is plain 
that he is to attend to all present 
duties; always remembering what is 



A THANKFUL HEARER. 209 

required in the Fifth Commandment, 
That we " preserve the honour, and per- 
form the duties, belonging to every- 
one in their several places and rela- 
tions, as superiors, inferiors, or equals." 

A THANKFUL HEARER. 

Among the many things that were 
crowded into those busy days, when 
the foreigners who had been residing 
at Chusan were preparing to remove, 
and the Chinese officers were resuming 
command of the island, and were 
making the streets to resound, and the 
people to tremble, with the clang of 
gongs, and the shrill cry of those who, 
when an officer goes abroad in his 
sedan, precede him as heralds, to 
clear the road, and to " prepare his 
way;" we not yet knowing whether 
we might still remain upon the island 
18* 



210 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

after it should be given up by the 
English, or whether we too would be 
compelled to pack up and hasten 
away to join our mission on the main- 
land — amongst the many interesting 
occurrences of those days was the re- 
ceipt of a note from a soldier who had 
of late been frequent in his atten- 
dance on divine service, and a close 
listener when present; with whom, 
however, I had not a particular ac- 
quaintance, nor had I conversed with 
him especially on religious subjects. 
His note was to thank me for the re- 
ligious instruction which he had re- 
ceived, and which he trusted had been 
blessed to his conversion. He would 
have come, he said, to thank me in 
person, and to say good-bye, but was 
detailed on service from which he 
could not be excused, He mentioned 



A THANKFUL HEARER. 211 

especially the discourse of a particular 
Sabbath afternoon as that which had 
helped him, as he believed, to find the 
way of life; it was the instruction he 
needed, and the truth which, as he 
thought, the Holy Ghost had used on 
the occasion as his sword, and had 
made effectual to his salvation. 

He could not be content to leave the 
country without telling me of this, 
both that I might be assured of his 
grateful remembrance, and that I 
might be encouraged to continue in the 
same good work, and he begged me not to 
despair of doing good even to those 
who, like himself, had not made their 
case known to me. While, perhaps, I 
was not quite so confident as he seemed 
to be respecting that particular sermon 
as being the truth which was made ef- 
fectual to his salvation, for he had 



212 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

heard much truth besides that, though 
this may have served to arrest his at- 
tention at that particular time, and 
may have set memory and conscience 
at work to bring other truths into his 
remembrance, and to set his sins in 
order before him; yet I looked up 
that sermon, to see what it was, and 
found it to be one with which, on some 
accounts, I was less pleased than any 
other that I had preached at Chusan. 
It had been hastily prepared, and I 
remembered, and still have a clear re- 
collection of feeling very anxious and 
troubled while walking to the chapel ; 
for I knew that it was very slightly 
" beaten oil," though I remember trying 
to encourage and comfort myself in the 
fact that there would be much scripture 
in my discourse. The text I knew 
was important, and if that could be 



A THANKFUL HEARER. 213 

sent home to any heart, and lodged in 
any memory, it might accomplish more 
than all I might be able to say under 
the most favourable circumstances. I 
was conscious that my own remarks 
were altogether common place, but the 
discourse had much of God's own truth 
in it, and in his own words, and this he 
could bless; and I earnestly prayed 
that he would not let his word be 
spoken in vain on that day. 

I remembered also, when the con- 
gregation had been dismissed, walking 
back to attend the Chinese service in 
the city, how I went with desponding 
thoughts and feeling that I had done 
very poor service for God that day. 
I recollected, moreover, that the day 
itself was quite unfavourable, very 
rainy, the ground muddy, and the house 
damp and chilly, and I doubted 



214 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

whether there would be many in atten- 
dance ; and so it was ; the audience was 
very small. But one was there whom 
God, it seems, had sent to hear the 
very message which he had been 
making ready for him. 

Therefore that note of the soldier 
saying that that unpromising Sabbath, 
and that, to me, unpromising sermon 
were to him made precious, and 
amongst the things which he would 
not be likely ever to forget — that note, 
I say, was to me a whisper of encour- 
agement. It impressed me with the 
importance, in preaching, ever to make 
God's own truth the prominent thing ; 
and indeed, that is the only thing 
which we as preachers have to do — 
to preach the preaching which he bids 
us, and as much as possible to let God 
himself speak to the people in the 



A THANKFUL HEARER. 215 

very language of his own scriptures. 
It encouraged me (and I have many 
times needed such encouragement) to 
preach to a few with- as much hope and 
comfort as to a great assembly. It 
admonished me not to let rain or storm 
(unless it be quite extraordinary) 
keep me from the place appointed for 
worship, for on that very rainy Sab- 
bath, and when few are present, the 
Holy Spirit may be present to open 
some heart, and to drop into it the 
good seed of the word. By it again 
I was reminded that God's ways are 
not as our ways ; and that we may in 
hope continue to sow beside all waters. 
It is not well to despise " the day 
of small things." That was rather a 
" thin meeting" when Philip preached 
to the eunuch ; and the preacher had 
to travel a long road to meet the one 



216 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

who was in need of his instructions. 
God, who had his own purposes to ac- 
complish, knew how to bring the teacher 
and the disciple together ; and while he 
opened the mouth of the one to com- 
municate truth, he opened the heart 
of the other to receive it. 

COLLATERAL BENEFITS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 

The good accomplished by christian 
missions to the heathen is not to be 
judged of merely by the reports of 
operations amongst the people on whom 
the principal labour has been bestowed. 
Whatever good has been accomplished 
by the missionary while on his way to 
his field, — whatever beneficial influ- 
ence he may exert upon his country- 
men whom he sometimes meets in the 
country in which both are strangers, 
these may be mentioned in the sum- 



BENEFITS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 217 

ming up of the results of Foreign 
missions. If in consequence of the 
establishment of a christian mission 
there are now influences to meet the 
sailor or soldier in a foreign port, or 
distant inland station, which may in a 
measure restrain him from vice to 
which in former times there were 
strong temptations — if there are now 
influences which may help to bring 
back to his memory the religious in- 
structions of his childhood, and the 
serious impressions of his early days, 
we have, even in this, reason for thanks- 
giving that the Foreign Missionary 
enterprise was ever undertaken. Those 
who have husbands, or brothers, or sons 
who from taste, or necessity, or philan- 
thropy go down to the sea in ships, 
and do business in the great waters, 
may be glad that in so many of the 

19 



218 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

distant parts of the earth those friends 
may meet with that which will remind 
them of the Sabbath and the claims of 
the christian religion. And surely it 
ought to be a matter of thankfulness 
to the anxious parent whose wayward 
son is wandering over the sea, or who 
in a fit of desperation or folly has 
thrown himself into the army, to 
know that there are ministers of reli- 
gion at some of the places to which 
God's providence may direct the steps 
of his son. How often may it have 
occurred that the missionary who may 
have been in part supported by the 
widow's mite, and prospered by the 
widow's prayers, may have been moved 
by the widow's God to go and speak 
to her son, whom for this purpose 
he has brought within the reach of the 
missionary's counsel ! God's thoughts 



BENEFITS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 219 

are not like our thoughts. "His 
ways are in the sea, and his path in 
the great waters, and his footsteps are 
not known." Those who give to the 
Lord, to them it shall be given back 
again. Such as give to the Lord in 
the support of missions may have it 
given back into their bosoms, by hear- 
ing in some distant day, or perhaps not 
till both are gathered home to heaven, 
that some friend of theirs was met in 
a foreign land by a missionary of the 
cross, and by him invited to his house, 
or to his chapel, and affectionately en- 
treated to attend to the salvation of 
his soul : or that some dear one in his 
last sickness far away and with stran- 
gers, was found out by a servant of 
Him who went about doing good, and 
was ministered unto ; that his dying 
pillow was smoothed, the chilling death- 



220 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

sweat wiped from his brow, and the 
" cup of cold water" held to his burn- 
ing lips ; his last words gathered up, 
and his dying messages sent to the not 
forgotten ones who otherwise would 
never have known where or how he 
died. And so it is that "He that hath 
pity upon the poor lendeth unto the 
Lord; and that which he hath given 
will he pay him again/' 

Moreover, missionary labours are 
aided by whatever good is done to any 
soldier, or sailor, or foreign resident at 
the place where the work of the mis- 
sionary may lie ; for every good chris- 
tian is an epistle, known and read of 
all men. Every person in whom the 
Holy Spirit has wrought the new birth 
is an illustration of what the mission- 
ary preaches, when he says to the hea- 
then, u Ye must be born again." Every 



BENEFITS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. 221 

godly example is a constant sermon, 
and a living commentary on the scrip- 
tures; and when missionaries have 
around them many such examples, 
their hearts are encouraged, and their 
hands strengthened; while each new 
convert is another added to the sol- 
diers of Christ, to engage in the war- 
fare against Satan's kingdom — another 
added to that great company who are 
engaged in offering that prayer, " Thy 
kingdom come, thy will be done on 
earth as it is in heaven." 

Therefore, as we have opportunity, 
let us do good unto all men, both at 
home and abroad, and by the way. 
We are debtors both to Greek and 
barbarian ; to the heathen and to our 
countrymen. 

" In the morning sow thy seed, and 
in the evening withhold not thy hand ; 

19* 



222 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

for thou knowest not which shall pros- 
per, either this or that, or whether 
they both shall be alike good.' 7 

WHAT PAY DO YOU RECEIVE? 

Our intercourse with some of the 
officers' families, and with merchants, 
and people from the ships, was very 
pleasant. But there were many who 
were at a loss to understand what 
could be our motives in coming so far, 
and subjecting ourselves to so many 
inconveniences for the small returns 
which, as they judged, were to come 
from it. 

A question that was frequently 
asked us was this, "What pay do you 
get ?" We answered that missionaries 
from our country received what was 
considered sufficient to meet their 
necessary expenses : that those of our 



WHAT PAY DO YOU RECEIVE? 223 

Board of Missions then in China were 
waiting till they should ascertain what 
the probable yearly cost of living 
would be, and then their salaries 
would be fixed accordingly. 

"Indeed!" they would say, "and 
is that all ? And no provision for old 
age, or infirmity? A person, you 
know, breaks down in this climate 
pretty soon; and then what is to 
become of him and his family, if he 
has made no provision for a rainy day ? 
Have you then no invalid fund, or 
retired list, or half pay and rations, or 
something of that sort — no pensions ?" 

No, we would answer, we have to 
trust providence both for our daily 
bread, and for provisions for the 
future. 

"Well, well," they would say, " that 
is curious, and rather hard too. We 



224 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

don 1 1 do things in that way; we mean 
to be loyal to our queen, to be sure; 
but then we expect that she will pay 
us well for it. Your work is hard, 
and we would think, very perplexing, 
and unpleasant; and living in the 
midst of the natives, and having to 
associate with them must be very dis- 
agreeable. We have some rough times, 
'tis true, but a good deal of our service 
is about as you see we have it here, 
where we have hardly exercise enough 
to give us an appetite for dinner; but 
still we have both pay and rations, 
with a prospect of pensions if we 
need them, and a chance for glory 
too." 

And sometimes they would go on to 
ask "if we honestly thought there 
was much prospect of making tolerably 
good christians out of such material 



WHAT PAY DO YOU RECEIVE? 225 

as we had there — those bare-pated, 
lying, thieving natives !" as they 
called them. And then we would 
have to explain to them that, as to 
rations, w r e had to trust in the promise 
which says, "Bread shall be given 
him; his waters shall be sure." As 
to pay, we expect to have to wait 
awhile, but there is a promise that " he 
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
precious seed, shall doubtless come 
again with rejoicing, bringing his 
sheaves with him." As to glory, we 
ought not to wish for anything more 
than what Paul had in view when he 
said, "I have fought a good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith : henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness." 

As to the success of our labours, we 
have to live and labour in hope, and 



226 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

with faith, and in obedience to that 
command of the Master, "Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature." We hoped that here 
and there one would be enlightened in 
the knowledge of Christ, and be turned 
from his dumb idols to the service of 
the living God : and we believed that at 
some time all the nations would be 
turned unto the Lord. 

WORLDLY MEN CAOTOT UNDERSTAND OUR 
MOTIVES. 

In the cabin of a small naval steamer, 
on board of which, by courtesy, an 
invalid friend was passenger, who 
from his state-room overheard, and 
from whom I received, the substance 
of what I am about to write — on that 
steamer, and in that cabin, the officers 
were at dinner. Some w T ere young, 



OUR MOTIVES NOT UNDERSTOOD. 227 

and some had seen service in various 
parts of the world. They were leav- 
ing a port where they had spent a few 
days, and while there, some of them 
had formed the acquaintance of one of 
their own country-women, a lady that 
would rank with most of them either 
as to birth, or wealth, or accomplish- 
ments ; and she also had seen service 
in foreign parts, and hard service of 
many years, but not for the sake of 
wealth or fame, for she was engaged 
in the management of a school of hea- 
then girls, whom she clothed, and fed, 
and lodged, defraying the expenses of 
the establishment, in a great measure, 
from her own resources. 

The meats had been removed, the 
second course had been discussed, and 
now the fruit was on, and the wine 
was passing, when, from a grave person- 



228 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

age at the head of the table, comes the 
abrupt inquiry, as if in soliloquy : 
" What could have influenced that lady 
to come to this country and live in the 
way she does — a lady of such educa- 
tion and cultivated manners — with 
more than a comfortable living at home, 
respectable connections, from a healthy 
country, a beautiful town ; while here 
all her employments and associations 
are, to my mind, anything but agree- 
able — the perplexities of an extensive 
establishment; to have the providing 
for and the training of such a horde 
of young heathens ; to go about, as she 
does, amongst the natives, and sit in 
their uncomfortable habitations, her- 
self much of the time in miserable 
health, with a climate that is ruinous to 
most constitutions, and much of the 
time quite disagreeable ! What motive 



OUR MOTIVES NOT UNDERSTOOD. 229 

could have brought or can keep such 
a lady here, I cannot imagine." 

" Some early disappointment, sir, I 
fancy," said one, pouring out another 
glass, and with an air that seemed to 
say, No hard matter for a discerning 
man like me to divine the cause. 
" Some affair of the heart, sir, in 
earlier days ; only, instead of burying 
herself in a convent, as was once the 
fashion, she has devoted herself to this 
sort of religious life." 

" Life in a convent, in some pleasant 
country, and in a romantic spot, would, 
to my notion, be far preferable to an 
isolated existence in this end of the 
earth, amongst tawny natives, con- 
tending with fevers, and exposed to 
dangers," said another voice. 

" I imagine, sir," said another, setting 
down his glass, and drawing himself 
20 



230 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

up like one who had no trouble in 
solving questions of this nature, " I 
imagine, sir, that the course of this 
lady may be accounted for, as well as 
that of many others, and perhaps, of 
most of those we meet and hear of in 
different parts of the world, under the 
general name of missionaries, by an- 
alysing the religious feeling in man- 
kind. That which impels the Moham- 
medan to his prayers, ablutions, and 
pilgrimages ; the devotees of India to 
self-torture, and the monk to all his 
austerities — the same, it may be, in 
some over-zealous Protestant, developes 
itself in voluntarily submitting to the 
expatriation, exposures, discomforts, 
diseases, and shortening of life to 
which these missionaries are exposed." 
" But," said he at the head of the 
table, "I can hardly adopt your op- 



OUR MOTIVES NOT UNDERSTOOD. 231 

inions, gentlemen, for she appears a 
sensible person, of correctly balanced 
mind; cheerful, without any of the 
tokens of misanthropy; no gloominess 
or absent-mindedness, or that kind of 
indifference to the world which char- 
acterizes a disappointed person that 
feeds on melancholy, and broods over 
blighted hopes. And, again, there is 
none of the extravagance of the reli- 
gious enthusiast; none of the boasting 
or parade of the religious devotee; 
and too much evidence of real genuine 
sincerity for a hypocrite. Why, to 
see her in that school, one is reminded of 
nothing else than a devoted mother 
amongst her own children — calm, cheer- 
ful, and doing whatever she finds need- 
ing to be done, simply because she 
loves to do it. In visiting her sick 
neighbours, and teaching from house to 



232 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

house, there seems to be only an 
honest desire to do the poor people 
good. She keeps about her work just 
as steadily and hopefully as if she fully 
expected that her efforts would, at the 
proper time, bring about the result 
which she desires. I confess there is 
something in all this which I do not 
yet altogether understand ; your theo- 
ries, gentlemen, in my opinion, do not 
meet this case," 

And, now, can we account for the 
course of this lady? Can we find a 
clue by which to get at the motives 
which impelled her ? Let the question 
be answered by our repeating here a 
few words which we once heard from 
the lips of one who had given many 
years of toil and care to the service of 
the church. At the time to which we 
refer, he was travel-worn from a long 



OUR MOTIVES NOT UNDERSTOOD. 233 

journey, which he had undertaken in 
order that he might better serve the 
cause to which he had given many 
years of labour, and for which he had 
resigned political honours and rewards. 
He was addressing a little band of 
missionaries in the wilderness, who 
had been long and anxiously expecting 
his visit. He encouraged the mission- 
aries by a reference to the command to 
preach the gospel, the comfort always 
attending the faithful discharge of duty, 
and by a reference to the promises. 
He alluded to the pleasure always at- 
tending faithful endeavours to benefit 
others. He spoke of the love of Christ 
constraining us, his grace assisting us, 
his cheering presence with us. But, 
said he, the world cannot understand 
our motives; they do not know our 
feelings : therefore some think we are 
20* 



234 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

zealots. Some almost believe we are 
mad. 

Then he related a few lines of his 
former experience, like this: "Before I 
entered upon the duties of the office 
in which I still am, I was associated 
in my professional labours with men 
who were aspirants for political dis- 
tinction, and perhaps my own pros- 
pects for honours and wealth were as 
promising as any of theirs ; and when 
I abandoned all these, and relinquished 
an honourable office and its emoluments, 
for the comparative seclusion, the 
work, and bare support of one in the 
missionary service, many of my former 
associates looked upon me as one be- 
come suddenly deranged. Some warmly 
remonstrated against my throwing my- 
self away in such a manner. But," he 
added, stretching out his hand, in 



OUR MOTIVES NOT UNDERSTOOD. 235 

which he grasped the Bible, "they 
had never read this book as I had read 
it — they did not understand it as I un- 
derstood it — they did not love it as I 
loved it, and of course could not un- 
derstand how I could be willing to 
make those sacrifices of human ap- 
plause, and fame, and wealth, in order 
that I might be instrumental in spread- 
ing abroad this book, and the offer of 
salvation which it contains; they knew 
not of the grace which quickeneth, 
and had not experience of the love of 
Christ which constraineth us." 

Worldly men cannot understand our 
motives, because they have not read 
the Bible as we, by the aid of the 
Holy Spirit, have been enabled to 
read it. By multitudes our motives 
will never in this world be understood. 
They now esteem us mad. But when 



236 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

they have passed the boundaries of 
time, in how very short a space will 
they perceive that those were mad 
who laboured for the meat which 
perisheth, and not for that which en- 
dureth unto everlasting life ? 

THE FASHION OF THIS WORLD PASSETH 
AWAY. 

And what has become of all those 
whose acquaintance we made during 
the period of which we have been 
speaking ? Many of the soldiers have 
been strowed along the track of time ; 
many found graves in China, a few in 
the sea, and many since in India, and 
some of these on the fields of battle ; 
and as those have fallen out of the 
ranks, recruits have been brought on 
to fill their places. 

And where now are those who have 



THIS WORLD PASSETH AWAY. 237 

disappeared from the face of the 
earth ? When we knew them, those 
who gave evidence of having the one 
thing needful were the few ; while the 
large proportion were without God, 
without Christ, and having no good 
hope, and if they died thus where 
must they be now ? 

There were men in the diplomatic 
service of their several countries ; and 
there were travellers, having their minds 
on forwarding the interests of commerce 
or science, or to make a name, or to make 
a living, and to gratify a fondness for 
travelling. And there were merchants, 
and they laboured— laboured hard — 
and this they did even for such things 
as " perish with the using ;" and while 
still engaged in the pursuit of wealth, 
some saw what they had gathered 
slipping from them ; fortune, as they 



238 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

chose to call it, did not always favour 
them ; for in that country, as well as 
in this, riches had the habit of taking 
wings and flying away. Some had their 
possessions taken from them; and some 
were taken from their possessions. 
Others are still clinging to their gains. 
Now and then there was a pious man 
among them, who honoured the Lord 
with his substance ; who was the mis- 
sionaries' friend, and who did much to 
assist in the work in which they were 
engaged; and of these some have 
already gone to their reward. There 
was once in China an eminent exam- 
ple of a large-minded, and large- 
hearted christian merchant. While he 
lived he was doing good — scattering 
but still increasing ; into his lap the 
Lord seemed to be pouring more be- 
cause he was so good a steward of 



THIS WORLD PASSETH AWAY. 239 

what had been entrusted to him. He 
had some riches, but with them he 
had that good name which is rather to 
be chosen than great riches. He 
" rests from his labours" now. 

With most of the merchants there, 
the ruling desire seemed to be that 
they might amass " a fortune/' and 
return home to enjoy it ; and how sad 
must be the reflections of those who 
think of what the soul is worth, at 
seeing death overtaking these, one after 
another, and finding them nearly in the 
state of the man of the parable, who 
said, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid 
up for many years — take thine ease." 

One, a sea captain, having sent his 
treasure on before-hand, had his neck 
broken by a falling spar just as he was 
leaving port homeward bound, in high 
spirits, and while waving adieu to friends 



240 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

on shore. One, while coming in from the 
last voyage which he was to make, and 
then retire, though yet in the midst 
of a vigorous manhood, but with 
wealth enough to give him plenty to 
eat, and to drink, and to be merry 
over, went down with his ship, as is 
supposed, a little outside the harbour ; 
the very fate he dreaded, and on ac- 
count of which dread he had deter- 
mined to get off from the sea. Three 
young men, enterprising, in a dashing 
business, frank, open-hearted, friendly 
to everybody, yet having a sharp eye 
to the main chance, were summoned 
early to their reckoning. Their decease 
was not far apart, though they died in 
different parts of the world. And 
now, as to all those things which they 
had provided — whose shall they be ? 
There was one — poor man ! — who 



THIS WOULD PASSETH AWAY. 241 

made too much haste to be rich— too 
much haste even for a worldly-wise 
man. Credit failed him; for in his haste 
he betrayed too much of the evil eye. 
When confidence steps out, business 
ceases to come in. So it came to pass 
that he, who started with a much fairer 
prospect than some others who rapidly 
grew into a lucrative trade, declined in 
his business ; his goods went piece by 
piece, then yard by yard, to procure 
him the necessaries of life; he was 
reduced to straits; and he died, as 
some think, if not of starvation, yet 
in consequence of too much fasting. 
But his proud spirit was whole in him 
to the very last. 

THE AUTHOR'S APOLOGY. 

It often happens that the story- 
teller's memory is longer than the pa- 

21 



242 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

tience of his hearers. Perhaps it is 
so in this instance; so let me stop 
where I am, while by the way of apol- 
ogy, permit me to add, that I have 
written these sketches, partly because 
I love occasionally to bring back the 
past; partly to preserve for myself, 
and for whoever else may feel any in- 
terest in the subject, a record of events 
that were fast falling into forge tfulness; 
and partly that whoever may read 
what I have written — if in this busy 
age any person can afford the leisure 
to take up this little bundle of remi- 
niscences — partly, I say, that they may 
live over with me those by gone days. 
I have written too with some hope that 
these reminiscences may do good in 
some way; for they show, though 
faintly indeed, what the writer felt 
very strongly when these events were 



the author's apology. 243 

passing, and what his memory still 
keeps him thinking on, viz : that reli- 
gion is everything — that to be a chris- 
tian, a follower of Christ and friend 
of Glod, is of the first and chief impor- 
tance — that in a short time all we will, 
want will be the one thing needful, 
the good part which cannot be taken 
away. 

They show that in any lawful 
calling a man may be a christian ; that 
even though in a calling which con- 
science disapproves, yet if kept there 
by constraint, we may still live near 
to God, and enjoy his favour ; and 
that wherever the christian may find 
himself placed he should strive to be 
doing good, letting his light shine to all 
around. 

They encourage us to be ever care- 
ful to observe, and quick to improve 



244 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

opportunities for doing good, ever 
ready to drop a word in season; for 
"we watch for souls." They show 
that private christians, and those with- 
out education, may do much in leading 
others to Christ, and in strengthening 
their brethren by entreaties, counsels, 
and a godly example. They teach us 
not to despise the day of small things, 
but to be willing to do good by little 
and little, and not be discouraged 
though the multitude still turn away 
from the truth. If out of those seve- 
ral hundred soldiers there was here 
and there one to say, "Thy people 
shall be my people, and thy God my 
God," there was joy in the presence 
of the angels of God over those few 
sinners that repented. 

That little band of praying soldiers 
was, in proportion to their regiments, 



THE author's apology. 245 

as generally the church has been in 
the world. " Though many are called, 
few are chosen;" and so we still find 
it ; few believe our report ; the arm of 
the Lord is revealed unto but few; 
nevertheless we should not grow weary 
in well doing. 

It is a source of some gratification 
to be able to call to mind some in- 
stances in which dying saints were 
comforted — in which desponding ones 
were encouraged to look up, and the 
afflicted enabled to find consolation, 
and the sick to think of Him who both 
healeth diseases and forgiveth iniquities. 
And that is a part of our mission here 
in the world, to bear one another's 
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ 
— to speak comfortably to God's peo- 
ple. We are, if possible, to help, or 
to direct each other how to be happy ; 
21* 



246 SCENES IN CHUSAN. 

to assuage grief; to dry up tears; to 
be kind ; to do good unto all men as 
we have opportunity, especially to 
those who are of the household of 
faith. 



THE END. 



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